'N: 


FhenghInva5IonoFI^nd 

.n'q8 


By 


WlL£RlAN  GMBJyiWfF 


94-1.57 


Gj8? 


Columbia  mniucvsitu 
ttt  the  <£itn  of  |£eur  Bo*k 


fecial  ^nntl 

1898 
(Giucn  anonymously 


■58 


«M 


s^tfrsr^ 


V"    j   - 


K- 


sfcN 


5$      >';^p 


^M':M 


• 


"* 


r*« 


THE    FRENCH 
INVASION  OF  IRELAND  IN  '98 


LEASES  OF   UNIVRITTEN  HISTORY 

THAT    TELL   OF    AN 

HEROIC    ENDEAVOR 

AND    A 

LOST    OPPORTUNITY 

TO  THROW  OFF   ENGLAND'S  YOKE 


BY 

VALERIAN     GRIBAY^DOFF 


WITH    A    MAP,    AND    NUMEROUS   ILLUSTRATIONS    BY 
WELL-KNOWN   ARTISTS 


NEW    YORK 
CHARLES    P.    SOMERBY 

28  Lafayette  Place 


COPYRIGH  I  .     1890, 

By    V.    GRIBAYfiDOFF, 


CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

List  of  Illustrations  . . c 


Authorities 
Preface 


CHAPTER    I. 


The  Events  leading  up  to  a  French  Invasion  of  Ireland — Several 
Preliminary  Attempts  at  an  Invasion — Intrigues  of  the  League 
of  United  Irishmen — Outbreak  of  the  Insurrection 15 

CHAPTER   II. 

Humbert  lands  in  Killala  with  a  Thousand  Men — Career  of  the 
Hero  and  Composition  of  his  Army — Bishop  Stock's  Testi- 
mony to  the  Invaders 26 

CHAPTER   III. 

A  Proclamation  to  the  Irish  People — Astonishment  of  the  In- 
vaders at  the  Religious  Zeal  of  their  Irish  Allies — Peculiar 
Position  of  the  Irish  Clergy — Their  Intolerance  rebuked  by 
the  French 49 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Field  of  Operations — Morale  of  the  English  Forces— An 
Engagement  near  Ballina — Episodes  at  the  Capture  of  that 
Town 61 


288.148 


4  •  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   V. 

TAGE 

The  Theatre  of  Operations — Weary  March  of  the  French  and 
Irish — Scenes  in  Castlebar — The  Battle — Tame  and  Flight  of 
the  British 73 

CHAPTER    VI. 

A  Disgraceful  Incident — Losses  on  Both  Sides — The  French 
indulge  in  the  Pleasures  of  Music  and  Dancing — General 
Results  of  the  Battle — A  Republican  Government  for  Con- 
naught 100 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Humbert  resumes  Operations  in  the  Field — The  British  Plan  of 
Campaign — Battle  of  Colooney — Battle  and  Surrender  at 
Ballinamuck — Case  of  Bartholomew  Teeling . .    114 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

A  Second  Battle  of  Castlebar — Defeat  of  the  Insurgents — The 
Three  French  Officers  left  at  Killala— Their  Efforts  to  sup- 
press Religious  Persecution — Riot  and  Lawlessness  the  Order 
of  the  Day — Advance  of  the  Royal  Armies — Battle  of 
Killala 144 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Humbert's  Career  subsequent  to  his  Return  from  Ireland — His 
Tart  in  the  Campaign  against  the  Austrians.  and  the  Expedi- 
tion to  San  Domingo — His  Love  Intrigue  with  Pauline  Bona- 
parte— Escape  to  America — Present  at  the  Battle  of  New 
Orleans — Expedition  to  Mexico x  75 

Appendix 185 

Index 189 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CASTLEBAR Drawn  by  Harry  Ogden.  .  Frontispiece. 

opp. 
drawn  by  page 

Arrival  of  the  French  Vessels Edw.  Siebert 29 


Portrait  of  General  Sarrazin V.  GribayJdoff. 45 

Portrait  of  Marquis  of  Cornwallis..  V.  Gribaye'doff, 61 

Sarrazin  Embraces  a  Patriot's  Corpse.  .Edw.  Siebert 67 

The  March  to  Castlebar W.  C.  Fitler 72 

Portrait  of  General  Hutchinson V.  Gtibaye'doff. 84 

Lake's  Flight  from  Castlebar Baron  C.  de  Grimm.  98 

The  Ball  after  the  Battle Thomas  Mcllvaine .  105 

Map  of  Connaught 116 

Portrait  of  Colonel  Charles  Vereker.  .  Comerford. 123 

Retreat  of  the  French Edw.  Siebert 129 

The  Gory  Heights  of  Ballinamuck Charles  Graham  . . .  136 

The  Battle  of  Killala Edw.  Siebert 160 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dublin  Penny  Journal.     Dublin,  1833-34. 

History  of  the  Rebellion  in  Ireland.     Rev.  J.   Gordon.     London, 
1801. 

Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Irish  Nation.      Sir   Jonah    Barrington, 
1815. 

Memoirs  of  the  Rebellion  in  Ireland.     Sir  R.  Musgrave.    Dublin, 
1801. 

A  n  Historical  Review  of  the  State  of  Ireland.     FRANCIS  Plowden. 
Dublin,  1805. 

Jones'  Narrative  of  the   Insurrection    in    Connaught.      Reprint. 
Carlisle,  Pa.,  1805. 

General  Humbert's  Official  Reports  to  the  Directory  and  the  Marine 
Minister,  1798.     Archives  de  France. 

Le  Moniteur  General.     An  vi.  and  vii. 

Reports  and  letters  of  Generals  Lake,   Trench,  and  Hutchinson. 
1798. 

A    Narrative  of  What  Passed  at  Killala.      By  an  Eye-witness. 
London,  1800. 

Notice  Historique  de  la  De'scente  des  Francois  en  Irlande.     L.   O 
Fontaine.     Paris,  1801. 

Personal  Narrative  of  the  Irish  Rebellion.     C-  H.  Teeling.     Bel- 
fast,  1832. 

Saunders'  Newsletter  and  Daily  Advertiser.     Dublin,  1798. 

Parochial  Survey  of  Ireland.     M.  W.   Monk.     Dublin,  1814. 
Topographical  Dictr.  of  Ireland.     S.Lewis.      London,  1837. 

Pieces  of  Irish  History.     W.  J.  McNevin.      New  York,  1 807. 


o  A  UTHORITIES. 

Dissertations  on  the  History  of  Ireland.  C.  O'CONNOR.  Dublin, 
1812. 

Nouvelle  Biographie  Universelle.     Didot.     Paris,  1852. 

Biographie  Universelle.     Michaud.     Paris,  1843. 

A  New  Biographical  Dictionary.     H.  J.  Rose.     London,  1848. 

Correspondence  of  the  Marquis  of  Comwallis.     London,  1859. 

Resutnen  Histotico  de  la  Insurrection  de  Nueva  Espagna,  desde  su 
OTtgen  hasta  el  desembarco  del  Senor  E.  X.  de  Mina.      Mexico,  1821. 

Annuaire  NJcrologique.     Mahul.      Annee,  1823. 

Thiers'  History  of  the  First  Consulate  and  Empire. 

Views  of  South  America  and  Mexico,     New  York,  1 826. 


PREFACE. 

The  present  volume  is  an  effort  to  rescue  from 
comparative  oblivion  one  of  the  many  extraordinary 
episodes  of  the  great  French  revolutionary  war. 
Cortez  and  Pizarro,  and  scores  of  minor  conquerors 
— nay,  even  buccaneers  like  Morgan — have  found 
their  panegyrists,  but  on  the  subject  of  General 
Humbert's  descent  upon  Ireland  in  1798  history  is 
almost  silent.  Scarcely  more  than  two  years  ago  an 
English  general — if  I  mistake  not,  Lord  Wolseley — 
in  a  public  speech  referred  to  the  "  glorious  fact  that 
the  United  Kingdom  had  not  been  insulted  by  the 
presence  of  an  armed  invader  since  the  days  of  Will- 
iam the  Conqueror."  The  speaker's  ignorance  was 
excusable,  seeing  that  the  majority  of  English  his- 
tories barely  mention  Humbert's  name.  None  of 
them  do  justice  to  the  magnitude  of  his  achieve- 
ments, or  recount,  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  sub- 
ject, the  exploits  which  carried  his  small  army  to 
the  very  heart  of  Ireland. 

Maxwell,  in  his  History  of  the  Irish  Rebellion,  ren- 
dered famous  by  a  set  of  Cruikshank's  illustrations, 


IO  PREFA  CK. 

devotes  one  and  a  half  chapters  to  the  story  of  the 
expedition  ;  but  his  narrative,  being  exclusively 
based  on  the  official  reports  and  the  extremely  par- 
tial account  of  the  Tory  writer,  Sir  Richard  Mus- 
grave  (Dublin,  1801),  the  result  is  anything  but  sat- 
isfactory from  a  strictly  historical  point  of  view.  For 
a  similar  reason  does  Mr.  Froude's  version  of  Hum- 
bert's descent,  as  contained  in  his  recently  published 
History  of  Ireland,  prove  superficial  and  inaccurate. 
Nor  has  the  hardy  Frenchman  received  better  treat- 
ment from  his  own  countrymen.  Thiers  dismisses 
him  with  six  lines,  and  Guizot  with  the  words:  "A 
French  invasion  under  command  of  General  Hum- 
bert for  a  time  gained  some  successes,  owing  to 
the  incapacity  or  connivance  of  the  Irish  militia, 
but  it  was  soon  repulsed." 

Two  years  of  research,  involving  an  examina- 
tion of  musty  records  and  archives  that  have  lain 
untouched  in  the  British  Museum  and  the  Biblio- 
theque  de  France  for  almost  a  century,  have  con- 
vinced me  that  I  am  dealing  with  a  case  of  histori- 
cal oversight.  Had  Humbert's  expedition  not  taken 
place  at  a  period  when  the  attention  of  Furope  was 
riveted  by  Bonaparte  and  his  schemes  of  Oriental 
conquest,  the  episode  would  doubtless  have  figured 
in  history  side  by  side  with  the  "  Bridge  of  Areola'," 
the  passage  of  the  St.  Bernhard,  the  "  ( lharge  of  the 
Light  Brigade,"  and  other  popular  traditions. 


PREFACE.  II 

For  what,  in  brief,  were  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  French  landed  in  Ireland  ?  Their  entire 
strength  fell  short  of  1,100  men  of  all  arms,  and 
on  the  day  of  their  arrival  at  Killala  the  country 
was  occupied  by  150,000  English  troops,  thoroughly 
prepared  for  every  emergency.  For  three  weeks 
the  invader  held  his  own  in  the  face  of  every  diffi- 
culty, defeated  several  forces  in  the  field — one, 
at  the  lowest  computation,  being  seven  or  eight 
times  his  superior  in  size — conquered  an  entire  prov- 
ince, and  only  surrendered  to  overwhelming  odds 
after  out-manoeuvring  the  British  commanders  dur- 
ing an  unremitting  march  of  a  week's  duration. 
The  French  by  that  time  had  penetrated  150  miles 
into  the  interior  of  the  country.  As  will  be  fully 
shown,  Humbert's  action  was  less  quixotic  than  ap- 
pears at  first  sight.  An  unfortunate  delay  of  a  few 
hours  prevented  his  junction  with  a  large  body  of 
Irish  insurgents.  Had  he  accomplished  his  purpose 
the  road  to  Dublin  would  have  been  thrown  open 
to  him,  and  the  history  of  Ireland  might  have  been 
changed. 

A  word  is  perhaps  apposite  regarding  several  of 
the  authorities  I  have  consulted,  a  list  of  which 
will  be  found  on  pages  7  and  8.  It  is  a  habit  of  all 
chroniclers  of  the  events  of  '98  who  take  the  anti- 
English  view  to  treat  Sir  Richard  Musgrave's  Me- 
moirs  as  utterly   unreliable.     Musgrave,  as  a  Tory 


12  PREFACE. 

member  of  the  Irish  Parliament  and  an  opponent 
of  Catholic  emancipation,  naturally  allowed  his  par- 
tisan prejudices  and  religious  convictions  to  color 
his  writings.  These  teem  with  invective  and  de- 
nunciation against  the  rebels  and  the  Catholic 
clergy.  Nevertheless,  a  comparison  of  the  Me- 
nioirs  with  other  contemporaneous  works  on  the 
rebellion — even  those  of  pro-Irish  writers — fails,  in 
my  opinion,  to  reveal  any  deliberate  instance  of 
mendacity  or  fabrication  on  his  part.  By  reason 
of  his  connection  with  the  government  he  had 
access  to  many  channels  of  information  closed  to 
the  ordinary  citizen,  and  in  his  copious  appendix 
will  be  found  copies  of  the  numerous  sworn  depo- 
sitions upon  which  his  charges  against  the  rebels 
are  based.  Musgrave's  principal  sin  is  one  of  omis- 
sion rather  than  commission,  for  he  is  ever  careful 
to  pass  over  in  silence  the  cruelties  committed  in 
the  name  of  the  king  and  the  constitution.  All 
of  which  being  the  case,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that 
his  narrative,  shorn  of  its  animadversions,  deserves 
some  consideration  as  an  historical  record.  With 
all  its  faults,  it  helps  to  throw  much  light  on  the 
events  of  the  day,  and-  I  have  not  hesitated  to  refer 
to  it  very  frequently. 

My  most  valuable  authorities  are  a  small  work 
entitled,  Jones'  Narrative  of  the  Insurrection  i)i 
Connaughty   of    which    a    reprint    was    published    in 


PREFACE.  13 

Carlisle,  Pa.,  in  1805,1  and  Louis  Octave  Fontaine's 
Notice  Historique  dc  la  De  scent  c  des  Francais  en 
Irlande  (Paris,  1801).  The  first-named  book  con- 
tains the  narrations  of  several  participants — active 
and  passive — in  those  stormy  events.  Their  style 
is  simple  but  eloquent,  and  often  dramatically  de- 
scriptive. The  absence  of  all  striving  for  effect  and 
partisan  motive  seems  to  stamp  them  with  the  seal 
of  truth.  On  the  merits  of  Fontaine's  account  I 
will  not  dwell  at  this  stage,  as  a  reference  to  the 
author  is  introduced  into  the  story.  As  far  as  my 
personal  investigations  go,  neither  of  these  works 
has  been  previously  consulted  by  any  writer  on  the 
rebellion,  and,  in  fact,  it  is  a  question  whether  more 
than  one  or  two  copies  of  them  are  now  in  exist- 
ence. 

For  picturesque  quality  the  French  invasion  of 
Ireland  will  stand  comparison  with  the  conquest  of 
Mexico  by  Cortez.  To  Americans,  in  particular, 
the  interest  in  the  event  will  be  enhanced  by  the 
tact  that  the  hero  died  an  American  citizen  on 
American  soil,  after  gallantly  serving  his  adopted 
country  during  the  war  of  1812.  But  apart  from 
these  considerations  the  story  of  Humbert's  adven- 
ture points  a  moral  that,  amidst  republican  institu- 
tions like  ours,  will  not  fail  to  receive  appreciation. 
It  shows,  on   the  one  hand,  the  elevating  influence 

1  A  copy  of  this  very  rare  work  is  in  the  author's  possession, 


14  PREFACE. 

of  newly  acquired  liberties  on  a  race  ground  down 
by  centuries  of  feudalism  and  monarchical  oppres- 
sion, and,  on  the  other,  the  debasing  effects  of  relig- 
ious and  political  intolerance  both  on  the  tyrant 
and  his  victim.  For  this  reason  mainly  have  I  ven- 
tured on  a  domain  that  properly  belongs  to  the 
military  writer. 

The  Author. 
New  York,  April  15 %  iSgo. 


THE    FRENCH    INVASION  OF 
IRELAND   IN  '98. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Events  leading  up  to  a  French  Invasion  of  Ireland — Several 
Preliminary  Attempts  at  an  Invasion — Intrigues  of  the  League 
of  United  Irishmen — Outbreak  of  the  Insurrection. 


HE     echoes     of     America's 
glorious     revolution    shook 
the  old   monarchies  of   Eu- 
rope  almost  to   their  foun- 
dations.     That    of    France 
c   soon    succumbed    to  its  ef- 
^#^>^?-S   fects.     The   year   1789   saw 
S^^SSSSS^    the  abolition  of  the  ancient 
CV^^k        regime,  with  its  manifold  abuses,  and 
'^%/o6  the  dawn  of  a  new  independence  that 

promised  great  things  for  the  Old  World.  To  what 
extent  these  prospects  were  marred  by  the  excess.es 
of  demagogues  and  the  mad  infatuation  of  the  mul- 
titude, history  has  sufficiently  informed  us;  but 
there  is  no  exaggeration  in  saying  that  with  all  the 


1 6  THE    FRENCH   INVASION 

follies  and  crimes  that  marked  its  progress,  that 
was  the  grandest  epoch  in  France's  history  as  a 
nation  when  five  hundred  thousand  of  her  sons,  ill- 
clad,  half-starved  and  poorly  drilled,  faced  the 
coalition  of  monarchical  Europe  in  defence  of  their 
mother  country  and  the  republican  idea.  The 
watchword,  "  la  patric  en  danger"  and  the  strains 
of  Rouget  de  Lisle's  inspiring  battle  hymn,  made 
heroes  out  of  the  commonest  clay.  Men  who  had 
never  smelled  powder  in  their  lives  marched  with 
light  heart  and  steady  tread  against  the  well-disci- 
plined foe.  On  the  northern  frontier  it  was  the 
English  and  Austrians,  on  the  western  the  Prus- 
sians, on  the  southern  the  Spaniards,  who  heard 
their  ringing  battle-cry  and  felt  the  prick  of  their 
cold  steel.  These  ragged,  unkempt  Sans-culottes, 
not  satisfied  with  hurling  the  enemy  back  over  the 
frontiers,  followed  him  into  his  own  country.  They 
overran  the  Rhine  province  and  Belgium,  and  in 
the  depth  of  winter  crossed  the  frozen  Dutch 
canals,  driving  the  British  before  them  like  chaff ; 
and,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  a 
troop  of  cavalry  captured  a  large  fleet  of  powerful 
men-of-war,  caught  fast  in  the  ice. 

But  notwithstanding  her  numerous  successes  on 
the  field  of  battle,  the  odds  continued  to  be  enor- 
mously against  the  young  republic.  England's 
maritime  power  was  making  itself  felt  in  an  alarm- 
ing degree.  A  cordon  of  British  men-of-war,  ex- 
tending from  Dunkirk  to  La  Rochelle,  and  also  the 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  1 7 

entire  length  of  the  Mediterranean  seaboard,  kept 
up  an  effectual  blockade  of  every  large  port  and 
deprived  the  French  of  their  only  means  of  replen- 
ishing a  well-nigh  exhausted  exchequer.  Every 
attempt  to  break  the  cordon,  or  even  run  the 
blockade,  met  with  disaster,  for,  with  all  their 
bravery  and  devotion,  the  sailors  of  the  republic 
were  no  match  for  the  "  tars  of  Old  England."  In- 
ferior seamanship  and  lack  of  discipline,  in  fact,  had 
resulted  in  an  almost  complete  annihilation  of  the 
French  navy. 

In  this  dilemma  the  attention  of  the  French 
Directory  was  turned  toward  Ireland  as  a  potential 
ally.  The  story  of  Ireland's  wrongs  is  a  hackneyed 
theme  nowadays,  especially  in  America,  and  for 
that  reason  it  has  ceased  to  interest  the  majority  of 
people.  The  writer  must  therefore  be  pardoned 
for  indulging  in  a  little  sentiment  anent  the  condi- 
tion of  that  unhappy  island,  a  prey  alike  to  the  ex- 
actions of  the  oppressor  and  the  conflicting  pas- 
sions of  the  oppressed.  Whatever  may  be  said  in 
extenuation  of  British  methods  in  Ireland  at  the 
present  time,  testimony  is  not  lacking  to  show  that 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  last  century  her  grievances 
were  numerous  enough  to  justify  the  spirit  of  dis- 
content which  France  found  it  to  her  interest  to 
foster.  The  elective  franchise  was  denied  to  all 
Catholics,  and  in  consequence  the  major  portion  of 
the  population  were  rendered  indifferent  to  sup- 
porting laws  in  whose  making  they  had   no  partici- 


1 8  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

pation,  and  which  neither  benefited  nor  protected 
them.  Protestations  on  the  part  of  the  disfran- 
chised, accompanied  too  often  by  acts  of  lawless- 
ness, only  elicited  the  most  stringent  coercive  meas- 
ures; and  at  last  there  reigned  a  period  of  terror 
throughout  the  country  which  almost  recalled  the 
martyrdom  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  under  Alva's 
bloody  regime.  The  people  in  whole  districts  were 
required  to  remain  within  their  houses  from  sunset 
to  sunrise,  and,  to  insure  their  doing  so,  visits  were 
paid  them  during  the  hours  of  darkness.  Woe  be- 
tide the  unfortunate  man  who  had  absented  him- 
self. He  often  returned  to  find  his  home  in  ashes. 
Nay,  more — cases  are  known  of  persons  merely 
suspected  of  treasonable  offences  being  dragged 
from  their  beds,  and,  without  the  formalities  of  a 
trial  or  an  effort  to  secure  proof,  being  shot  in  cold 
blood  or  doomed  to  a  lingering  death  amid  the 
pestilential  horrors  of  the  prison  ships.  The  in- 
famous Insurrection  Act  provided  the  death  pen- 
alty for  all  who  even  affiliated  with  secret  societies ; 
but,  far  from  crushing  the  spirit  of  the  patriots, 
who  had  organized  themselves  into  the  formidable 
"  Order  of  United  Irishmen,"  it  served  to  bring 
them  to  a  full  realization  of  their  desperate  straits, 
and  to  brace  their  nerves  for  a  final  effort  to  throw 
off  the  galling  yoke.1 

1  That  the  above  statements  arc  wholly  unexaggerated  may  be 
gathered  from  the  debates  in  the  British  House  of  Lords,  November 
22,  1797,  on  a  moti°n  by  L°rtl  Moira  to  petition  his   Majesty  for  the 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'gS.  1 9 

As  a  natural  result,  the  overtures  of  the  French 
Directory  for  an  alliance  were  eagerly  accepted  by 
the  Executive  Council  of  the  Order,  but  with  the 
express  stipulation  that  no  French  invading  army 
should  exceed  ten  thousand  men,  and  that  Ireland, 
after  her  liberation,  should  be  left  free  to  enact  her 
own  laws  and  adopt  her  own  form  of  government 
without  foreign  interference.  The  Directory  hav- 
ing pledged  its  faith  to  these  conditions,  an  arma- 
ment was  soon  after  equipped  from  the  port  of 
Brest    under    the    command     of    General    Lazare 

intervention  of  the  Crown  in  the  affairs  of  Ireland.  "  My  Lords," 
declared  the  speaker,  "I  have  seen  in  Ireland  the  most  absurd  as 
well  as  the  most  disgusting  tyranny  that  any  nation  ever  groaned 
under.  There  is  not  one  man,  my  Lords,  in  Ireland,  who  is  not 
liable  to  be  taken  out  of  his  house  at  any  hour,  either  of  the  day  or 
night,  to  be  kept  in  rigorous  confinement,  restricted  from  all  corre- 
spondence with  the  persons  who  have  the  management  of  his  affairs, 
be  treated  with  mixed  severity  and  insult,  and  yet  never  know  the 
crime  with  which  he  is  charged,  nor  the  source  from  whence  the  in- 
formation against  him  proceeded.  Your  Lordships  have,  hitherto, 
detested  the  Inquisition.  In  what  did  that  horrible  institution  differ 
from  the  system  pursued  in  Ireland?  Men,  indeed,  have  not  been 
put  to  the  rack  in  Ireland,  because  that  horrible  engine  was  not  at 
hand.  But  I  do  know  instances  of  men  being  picketed  in  Ireland 
till  they  fainted  ;  when  they  recovered,  picketed  again  till  they 
fainted  ;  recovered  again,  and  again  picketed  till  they  fainted  a 
third  time  ;  and  this  in  order  to  extort  from  the  tortured  sufferers  a 
confession,  either  of  their  own  guilt,  or  of  the  guilt  of  their  neigh- 
bors. But  I  can  even  go  farther  :  men  have  been  half  hanged  and 
then  brought  to  life,  in  order,  by  fear  of  having  that  punishment  re- 
peated, to  induce  them  to  confess  the  crimes  with  which  they  have 
been  charged.  .  .  .  He  who  states  these  things  should  be  pre- 
pared with  proofs.     I  am  prepared  with  them."     .     .     .. 


20  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

Hoche,  the  hero  of  Weissenberg  and  Quiberon, 
and  without  contradiction  one  of  the  most  promis- 
ing leaders  of  the  republican  armies.  Not  yet 
thirty  years  of  age,  a  man  of  keen  insight,  cool  de- 
liberation and  iron  will,  ardently  attached  to  demo- 
cratic institutions,  but  withal  averse  to  the  acts  of 
savagery  that  had  attended  their  introduction  into 
his  own  country,  he  seemed  moulded  by  destiny  for 
a  great  and  glorious  career.  The  liberation  of  Ire- 
land, it  should  be  added,  had  been  his  dream ;  he 
had  urged  it  on  the  members  of  the  Directory ;  he 
had  dilated  on  it  to  his  companions-in-arms.  He 
based  his  argument  on  sentimental  as  well  as  politi- 
cal grounds.  Ireland,  he  averred,  that  had  supplied 
so  many  brave  regiments  to  the  armies  of  France, 
should  be  allowed  to  reap  the  benefits  of  the  new 
republican  era.  The  French  armament,  consisting 
of  a  fleet  of  43  sail,  carrying  an  army  of  15,000 
men  and  40,000  stands  of  arms,  also  a  formidable 
train  of  field  artillery  and  heavy  cannon,  started 
from  Brest  in  the  month  of  December,  1796,  and 
made  for  Bantry  Bay,  in  the  south  of  Ireland. 
Had  this  imposing  force  effected  a  landing,  the  re- 
sult may  be  easily  conjectured.  How  inadequate 
were  England's  preparations  for  her  defence  is  evi- 
dent from  what  occurred  when  the  French  did  land 
eighteen  months  later.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the 
special  providence  which,  for  good  or  for  evil,  has 
guarded  England's  shores  since  the  day  that  the 
Spanish  -Armada  went  to  pieces  amid  the  waves  of 


OF  IRELAND   IN  *q8.  21 

the  English  Channel,  once  more  interposed,  and 
after  encountering  one  storm  after  the  other,  and 
failing  entirely  in  the  attempt  to  approach  the  Irish 
shore,  the  French  fleet,  somewhat  battered,  but 
without  any  material  loss,  returned  to  its  moorings 
in  the  harbor  of  Brest. 

The  failure  of  the  Bantry  Bay  expedition,  while 
it  proved  a  damper  on  the  immediate  hopes  of  the 
United  Irishmen,  in  no  manner  discouraged  them. 
Their  emissaries  in  France  continued  to  urge  a  re- 
newal of  the  attempt,  and  pointed  out  the  growing 
strength  and  cohesion  of  the  brotherhood,  with  its 
ramifications  extending  to  the  remotest  village  in 
the  land.  Their  efforts  were  partially  successful, 
for  in  the  following  June  the  Batavian  Republic,  at 
the  instance  of  the  French  Government,  undertook 
to  equip  an  armament  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
out  General  Hoche's  project.  Despite  the  reduced 
condition  of  her  exchequer  and  the  disorder  in  her 
military  and  naval  departments,  Holland  was  soon 
able  to  collect  at  the  Texel  sixteen  sail  of  the  line 
and  a  number  of  frigates,  under  the  command  of 
Admiral  De  Winter,  with  a  landing  force  of  thir- 
teen thousand  men,  led  by  the  intrepid  Daendels, 
Commander-in-chief  of  the  Batavian  Army.  This 
force  practically  constituted  the  entire  disposable 
strength  of  the  nation,  and  the  willingness  of  the 
latter  to  devote  it  to  the  liberation  of  a  suffering 
sister  has  been  cited  by  enthusiasts  as  a  case  of 
national  self-sacrifice,  unprecedented  in  modern  his- 


22  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

tory.  Expectations  in  Ireland  ran  high,  and  many 
longing  eyes  were  directed  toward  the  coast.  But 
the  patriots  were  doomed  to  fresh  disappointment. 
Weeks  and  months  passed  and  the  sail  of  the 
deliverer  appeared  not.  Again  had  the  elements 
interposed  themselves  in  England's  favor.  All  at- 
tempts to  leave  the  Texel  had  been  frustrated  by 
contrary  winds,  and  after  lying  inactive  for  two 
months  the  troops  were  disembarked,  owing  to  a 
scarcity  of  provisions,  and  the  entire  project  was 
abandoned.1 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  failure  of  the 
Batavian  expedition  came  the  news  to  the  Irish 
Union  of  the  death  of  General  Hoche,  their  staunch 
friend,  and  the  expulsion  of  Carnot,  the  able  or- 
ganizer of  the  Bantry  Bay  expedition,  from  the 
French  Directory — and  the  realization  of  the  United 
Irishmen's  dream  seemed  further  off  than  ever! 
At  this  juncture,  however,  their  hopes  were  again 
revived  by  the  sudden  conclusion  of  peace  between 
France  and  Austria,  and  the  private  assurance  of 
the  Directory  to  the  Union's  emissaries  that  a  fresh 
effort  in  the  direction  of  securing  Ireland's  inde- 
pendence would  shortly  be  made.  This  informa- 
tion, while  giving  confidence  to  the  mass  of  the 
brotherhood,  was  also  the  means  of  restraining  their 
impetuosity,  which,  had  it  taken  the  form  of  a   pre- 

1  This  Dutch  fleet  fell  a  prey  to  Lord  Duncan  and  his  heavy 
"  seventy-fours,"  in  the  memorable  action  off  Camperdown,  October 
II,  1797. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'g$.  2$ 

mature  outbreak,  would  have  worked  lasting  injury 
to  the  cause.  The  spring  of  1798  was  the  time  set 
for  the  fulfilment  of  the  Directory's  promise,  and 
to  Bonaparte,  the  savior  of  Toulon  and  conqueror 
of  Italy,  was  to  be  given  the  command  of  the  new 
expeditionary  army. 

For  the  third  time  the  British  Government  was 
filled  with  alarm,  and  the  United  Irishmen  rejoiced. 
Every  Briton  capable  of  bearing  arms  was  called 
upon  by  his  sovereign  to  aid  in  the  country's  de- 
fence. The  arsenals  and  ship-yards  bustled  with  a 
feverish  activity,  and  the  well-fed  shopkeepers  and 
landed  proprietors  trembled  for  their  homes  and 
money-bags.  But  for  a  third  time  Fate  was  kind  to 
Great  Britain.  Bonaparte  was  thinking  of  nothing 
so  prosaic  as  a  campaign  amidst  Irish  bogs.  His 
vivid  Latin  imagination  had  conjured  up  dreams  of 
Oriental  splendor.  The  entire  East  with  its  fasci- 
nating associations — in  the  foreground  Egypt  with 
her  pyramids  and  sphinxes,  then  Palestine  and 
Syria  with  their  ancient  ruins,  and  beyond  that 
Hindustan  with  her  untold  wealth — these  were  the 
realms  that  seduced  his  fancy,  and  thither  he  sailed 
with  the  finest  armament  France  had  equipped  in 
many  a  year ! 

The  wail  of  disappointment  and  desperation  that 
went  up  from  Irish  throats  as  the  French  fleet 
started  for  Egypt  could  scarcely  fail  to  impress  the 
British  rulers,  and  to  prepare  them  for  coming 
events.     Another    circumstance   tended  to  still  fur- 


24  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

ther  open  their  eyes.  Through  the  medium  of  its 
spies  the  British  Government  discovered  that  emis- 
saries of  the  Irish  Union  had  deliberately  thwarted 
the  negotiations  for  peace  opened  at  Lille  by  Lord 
Malmesbury,  the  English  ambassador.  These  men 
were  found  to  be  in  intimate  association  with  the 
chiefs  of  the  French  Army,  including  Bernadotte, 
Dessaix  and  Kilmaine,  whose  influence  they  used 
to  effect  the  rejection  of  all  British  overtures.  The 
presentation  of  the  above  facts  in  the  Irish  House 
of  Peers  by  the  Lord  Chancellor  himself  only 
tended  to  accentuate  the  crisis.  The  policy  of  co- 
ercion was  followed  up  with  redoubled  vigor,  the 
object  of  the  ministry — as  has  been  charged — being 
to  drive  the  nation  into  armed  rebellion,  which 
would  serve  as  a  pretext  for  depriving  it  of  its  last 
vestige  of  independence.  The  plan,  if  such  an  one 
was  intended,  succeeded  only  too  well.  Goaded  on 
by  the  arbitrary  acts  of  the  military  leaders,  who, 
without  the  slightest  authority  of  law,  took  it  upon 
themselves  to  supersede  the  ordinary  tribunals  of 
justice  and  to  try  by  court-martial  citizens  accused 
of  mere  civil  offences,  the  members  of  the  League 
at  last  threw  off  all  restraint,  and  in  the  month  of 
May,  1798,  broke  out  in  open  rebellion,  first  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Dublin,  then  in  Kildare,  Wexford 
and  Wicklow,  and  finally  in  Ulster. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  dilate  on  the  horrors  that 
followed.  Each  side  vied  with  the  other  in  barbar- 
ity and  disregard  of    all   human   rights.     But   com- 


OF  IRELAND  IN  yg8.  2$ 

mon  justice  requires  that  this  distinction  be  made : 
whereas  the  rebels  were,  for  the  greater  part,  igno- 
rant and  fanatic  peasants,  conscious  only  of  the 
grievous  wrongs  they  had  suffered,  and  therefore  in 
a  certain  degree  excusable  for  their  acts,  no  such 
excuse  can  be  offered  for  the  disciplined  troops  of 
his  Majesty,  and,  above  all,  for  the  Protestant 
Anglo-Irish  militia,  who  richly  deserve  the  reproba- 
tion of  all  ages  for  a  degree  of  bloodthirstiness  un- 
paralleled in  the  history  of  modern  warfare.  For 
months  the  revolted  provinces  remained  a  prey  to 
the  conqueror,  and  scenes  of  devastation  and  rapine 
were  of  daily  occurrence.  The  League  of  United 
Irishmen  was  practically  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  the 
iron  hand  of  the  despot  seemed  to  hold  the  stricken 
land  tighter  than  ever  in  its  deadly  grasp.  It  was  at 
this  supreme  hour  of  misery  that  the  electrifying 
news  sped  through  hill  and  dale,  through  town  and 
hamlet,  that  a  French  army  had  landed  at  Killala, 
in  the  province  of  Connaught,  and  was  on  the  march 
to  deliver  Ireland  from  the  oppressor ! 


CHAPTER   II. 

Humbert  lands  in  Killala  with  a  Thousand  Men — Career  of  the  Hero 
and  Composition  of  his  Army — Bishop  Stock's  Testimony  to  the 
Invaders. 


HE  town  of  Killala  is  situated 
on  the  bay  of  the  same  name, 
on  the  coast  of  County  Mayo. 
It  is  an  ancient  bishop's  see, 
and  was  founded  in  almost 
prehistoric  times  by  Amhley, 
a  prince  of  the  district,  who, 
according    to  tradition,  was 


~  converted  by  St.  Patrick,  together 
with  seven  hundred  of  his  subjects, 
in  a  single  day.  In  1798  there  still  remained  some 
relics  of  a  bygone  age.  Among  them  were  the  ruins 
of  a  "round  tower,"  erected  in  the  sixth  century  by 
the  eminent  Irish  architect  and  divine,  Gobhan,  on 
a  knoll  in  the  centre  of  the  town.  From  the  base  of 
this  elevation  three  roads  diverged — the  main  street 
taking  an  easterly  direction,  winding  by  the  church- 
yard wall,  down  a  steep  hill  to  the  bishop's  castle, 


FRENCH  INVASION  OF  IRELAND.  27 

another  aged  structure  dating  back  many  centuries, 
that  but  for  constant  repair  would  long  since  have 
crumbled  into  decay ;  a  second  road  running  south 
to  the  "Acres,"  a  distant  height  on  the  border  of  the 
town ;  and  a  third  pursuing  a  westerly  course  to 
the  banks  of  the  Owenmore,  two  miles  away.  This 
river  is  crossed  by  a  majestic  stone  bridge  of  eleven 
arches  at  the  village  of  Parsontown,  from  which 
point  the  road  branches  east,  following  the  windings 
of  the  stream  for  nearly  a  mile ;  then  bending  north- 
west parallel  to  the  Bay  of  Rathfran — an  inlet  of 
the  Bay  of  Killala — it  merges  into  the  highway 
of  Foghill.  On  the  banks  of  a  creek  at  the  western 
extremity  of  the  Bay  of  Rathfran  stand  the  moss- 
grown  ruins  of  Kilcummin,  a  cell  built  by  Cumin 
in  the  seventh  century. 

It  was  within  sight  of  this  romantic  spot  that, 
early  in  the  afternoon  of  the  22d  of  August,  1798, 
several  fishermen,  while  busy  repairing  their  nets, 
were  surprised  by  the  appearance  of  three  large 
war-ships  suddenly  rounding  a  neighboring  prom- 
ontory and  casting  anchor  two  hundred  feet  from 
the  shore.  For  some  days  past  vague  rumors  had 
floated  through  the  air  that  a  French  fleet  had  left 
La  Rochelle  and  was  on  its  way  to  the  Irish  coast. 
At  first  sight,  therefore,  the  men  decided  that  this 
must  be  the  enemy.  But  a  second  glance  revealed 
the  British  colors  flying  at  the  vessels'  bows,  and, 
eager  to  earn  a  few  pennies,  they  left  their  work 
and  at  a  brisk  gait  crossed  the  high  ground  that  hid 


28  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

the  bay  from  the  town  of  Killala.  Reaching  this 
place  they  made  a  straight  line  for  the  dwelling  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Stock,  Protestant  bishop  of 
Killala,  and  in  all  respects  the  leading  inhabitant 
of  that  section  of  the  country.  This  excellent  man, 
in  spite  of  his  intense  Protestantism  and  fealty 
to  the  government,  harbored  a  deep  resentment 
toward  the  ultra-loyalists,  whose  machinations  were 
furnishing  a  plausible  pretext  to  the  Romanists 
for  distrust  and  hostility  toward  their  Protestant 
brethren  in  general.  Orange  lodges  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  stirring  up  strife  were  being  started  in 
Connaught,  and  the  bishop  was  opposing  them 
with  might  and  main.  On  this  very  day  he  was 
busied  in  entering  a  protest,  in  his  "  primary  visita- 
tion "  charge,  against  the  first  sentence  of  the  oath 
by  which  Orangemen  are  banded  together,  viz.  :  "  I 
am  not  a  Roman  Catholic."  To  his  broad  and  lib- 
eral mind  such  a  sentiment  had  too  pharisaical  a 
ring.  It  sounded  too  much  like :  "  Stand  off,  I  am 
holier  than  thou  !  "  ' 

Greatly  pleased  were  the  reverend  gentleman 
and  his  guests — clergymen  from  the  vicinity — at 
the  news  brought  by  the  fishermen.  A  British 
fleet  in  the  bay  meant  an  end  to  all  danger  from 
the  French.  It  meant  an  end  to  the  condition  of 
suspense  into  which  the  Protestant  population  had 
been  thrown  by  the  persistent  rumors  from  all 
sides.      Even  among   the   servants   in   the  bishop's 

1  Narrative  of  What  Passed  at  Killala. 


2  T3 

V-  5 


OF   IRELAND    IN   'g8.  29 

household  the  belief  had  been  firm  that  something 
unusual  was  impending.  A  Protestant  servant- 
maid,  married  to  a  Catholic,  suspected  of  affiliation 
with  the  rebels,  had  circulated  the  report,  and  Mr. 
William  Kirkwood,  the  local  magistrate,  had  in  so 
far  credited  it  as  to  keep  under  arms,  as  a  precau- 
tionary measure,  the  entire  body  of  yeomanry  un- 
der his  command,  together  with  the  Prince  of 
Wales'  Fencibles  under  Lieutenant  Sills— number- 
ing about  fifty  men,  say  the  loyalist  writers,  but 
numbering  many  more,  say  other  authorities.1 

Impelled  by  a  desire  to  pay  their  respects  to  the 
officers  of  the  squadron — possibly  also  to  extend 
the  hospitalities  of  the  castle — the  bishop's  two 
sons,  Edwin  and  Arthur  Stock,  ran  down  to  the 
wharf  and  jumped  into  a  fishing  boat.  Here  they 
were  joined  by  the  port  surveyor,  Mr.  James  Rut- 
ledge,  and  a  few  minutes  later  the  three  were  skim- 
ming over  the  placid  surface  of  the  bay  on  their 
way  to  the  men-of-war.  It  was  nearly  three 
o'clock,  and  the  sun  beat  on  the  water  with  a 
fierce,  white  glare.  The  three  stately  ships  in  the 
foreground,  and  the  verdant,  undulating  hillocks 
bordering  the  shore  beyond,  formed  a  charming 
picture.  As  the  small  boat  came  within  hailing 
distance  Rutledge  commented  on  the  peculiar 
construction  of  the  vessels,  all  three  apparently 
frigates.     His    surprise  was    increased   at   the  sight 

1  Adjutant-General  Louis  Octave  Fontaine,  for  instance,  estimates 
the  British  force  at  two  hundred  men. — Notice  Historique,  p.  7. 


30  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

of  a  number  of  minor  craft  plying  to  and  from  the 
shore,  laden  with  blue-coated  soldiers,  who  formed 
in  line  at  a  short  distance  from  the  water's  edge. 
Still  suspecting  nothing,  the  three  approached  the 
nearest  war  ship,  from  the  bows  of  which  numerous 
shaggy  heads  stared  expectantly. 

"Nice-looking  fellows  for  British  man-of-war's 
men  !  "  remarked  Rutledge,  derisively. 

His  hailing  cry  was  answered  in  a  deep  bass 
voice,  with  an  unmistakable  Irish  brogue.  A  rope 
ladder  was  lowered,  and  the  three  men  were  hoisted 
on  deck.  But  what  was  their  astonishment  to  find, 
in  lieu  of  a  natty  British  captain  and  crew,  a  row  of 
gaunt  and  sallow  men  in  the  uniform  of  the  French 
army,  one  of  whom  stepped  forward  and  informed 
them,  in  good  Dublin  English,  and  in  the  name  of 
his  superior,  General  Jean-Joseph  Humbert,  there 
present,  that  they  were  on  board  the  French  frigate 
Concorde,  prisoners  of  war  in  the  hands  of  France. 

The  prolonged  absence  of  the  bishop's  sons  and 
the  surveyor  soon  awoke  suspicions  in  the  minds  of 
the  loyalists  of  Killala.  By  four  o'clock  the  excite- 
ment was  at  fever  heat.  The  inhabitants  had  gath- 
ered on  Steeple  Hill,  where  Captain  Kirkwood  with 
his  corps,  in  full  uniform,  were  awaiting  the  issue  of 
events.  Two  officers  from  the  garrison  of  Ballina, 
eight  miles  away,  who  had  seen  service  at  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  and  were  judges  on  matters  naval 
and  military,  were  eagerly  interrogated  by  the 
spectators,    buL   they   could   form    no    authoritative 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  31 

opinion  as  to  the  nature  of  the  vessels.  '*  Here," 
said  Captain  Kirkwood,  handing  his  telescope  to  an 
old  denizen  of  the  town  who  had  fought  under 
Howe  and  Rodney,  "  here,  tell  me  what  these  ves- 
sels are."  "  They  are  French,  sir,"  returned  the 
sea-dog.  "  I  know  them  by  the  cut  and  color  of 
their  sails."  Turning  to  leave  the  crowd,  Captain 
Kirkwood  was  questioned  by  Neal  Kerugan  (a 
noisy  malcontent,  and  afterward  a  leader  of  the 
insurgents)  as  to  the  nationality  of  the  frigates. 
"  Ah,  Neal,"  replied  the  captain,  significantly, 
"  you  know  as  well  as  I  do." 

Just  about  this  time  a  peasant  covered  with  dust 
and  sweat  rode  furiously  into  Parsontown  with  the 
startling  information  that  troops  in  blue  uniforms 
were  landing  from  the  ships,  and  were  distributing 
arms  to  many  of  the  inhabitants  who  had  joined 
them.  Presently  this  fact  was  confirmed  when  a 
solid  body  of  men  were  descried  moving  along  the 
road  leading  to  Killala.  Now  hidden  in  the  hollows, 
now  sharply  outlined  against  the  sky,  their  arms 
flashing  in  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun,  they  marched 
slowly  but  steadily  onward,  preceded  by  a  single 
horseman — a  large,  robust-looking  man,  dressed  in  a 
long  green  hunting  frock  and  a  huge  conical  fur 
cap.  On  meeting  parties  of  the  townsfolk  he 
stopped  and  saluted  them  in  the  Leinster  patois : 
"  Go  de  mu  ha  tu  "  (How  do  you  do).  Close  upon 
his  heels  rode  a  French  general — Sarrazin — and  his 
aide-de-camp,  one  Matthew  Tone,  both    seemingly 


32  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

much  amused  at  the  other's  successful  handling  of 
the  Irish  tongue.  When  they  had  crossed  the  Par- 
sontown  bridge  General  Humbert  drove  up  in  a  gig 
and  ordered  three  hundred  of  his  men  to  bivouac 
on  the  green  esplanade  in  front  of  the  village, 
while  the  remainder  were  sent  on  to  Killala. 

Twilight  was  falling  on  the  world,  and  the  gentle 
voices  of  the  evening  insects  were  singing  a  lullaby 
to  the  drowsy  earth  when  Sarrazin's  stalwart  grena- 
diers and  infantry  marched  down  the  hill  of  Mullag- 
hern  and  advanced  upon  the  little  town.  Captain 
Kirkwood,  informed  of  the  true  state  of  affairs,  has- 
tily gathered  together  his  yeomanry  and  the  Fenci- 
bles,  and  ordered  them  to  a  commanding  ridge  on  the 
outskirts ;  but  soon  deciding  this  position  to  be  less 
advantageous  than  one  within  the  town  itself,  he 
fell  back  and  took  a  stand  at  the  top  of  the  decline 
leading  to  the  castle.  He  showed  his  wisdom,  for 
no  better  situation  could  have  been  selected  for  a 
retreat.  Sarrazin,  on  arriving  within  gunshot  of  the 
enemy,  made  his  dispositions.  He  sent  a  detach- 
ment under  Neal  Kerugan — now  a  full-fledged  rebel 
— to  occupy  the  " Acres"  road,  to  turn  the  British, 
if  in  position,  or  cut  them  off  in  the  event  of  their 
retreating.  He  stationed  a  handful  of  sharpshooters 
on  the  deserted  ridge,  and  sent  the  green-coated 
horseman  referred  to  before  forward  to  reconnoitre. 
Through  the  winding  streets  the  chasseur  dashed. 
The  target  of  many  a  bullet,  he  reached  the  market- 
place  unharmed.       Here    he    was    challenged   by   a 


OF  IRELAND  IN  '98.  33 

young  gentleman  of  the  place  in  yeoman's  uniform 
with:  "What  do  you  want,  you  spy?"  The  voice 
of  war  is  the  scream  of  the  bullet,  and  the  answer, 
conveyed  through  the  medium  of  a  pistol,  was  both 
convincing  and  silencing.  One  more  dash  in  the 
face  of  death  to  inspect  the  enemy's  position,  and 
this  modern  Achilles,  with  his  heel  well  booted, 
was  back  among  his  companions,  where  he  related 
with  much  unction  that  "  though  he  had  been  in 
twenty  battles,  he  had  never  before  had  the  honor 
to  receive  the  entire  fire  of  the  enemy's  lines."1 

By  this  time  the  action  had  begun.  The  sharp- 
shooters were  showing  their  mettle,  and  the  grena- 
diers, who  had  headed  the  attacking  column,  de- 
ployed on  the  main  street,  in  the  centre  of  the 
town.  There  they  were  opposed  by  the  English 
with  a  faint-hearted  fire.  Captain  Kirkwood,  alarmed 
at  the  indecision  of  his  men,  ordered  them  in  ex- 
cited tones  to  charge.  The  command  found  no 
response.  The  line  hesitated,  wavered,  broke — 
and  in  a  moment  the  whole  force  were  skurrying 
toward  the  castle  gates.  In  the  scramble  the 
town's  apothecary,  a  respectable  citizen  of  the  name 
of  Smith,  was  laid  low  by  a  bullet  from  a  French 
trooper,  and  the  Rev.   Dr.  Ellison,  of  Castlebar,  an 

1  This  interesting  episode  is  gleaned  from  the  account  of  an  eye- 
witness published  in  the  Dublin  Penny  Journal  oi  1833.  The  name 
of  the  hero  is  unfortunately  not  mentioned,  but  the  man  was  prob- 
ably Henry  O'Keon,  one  of  the  prominent  Irish  members  of  the 
expedition. 

3 


34  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

Anglican  clergyman  and  guest  of  the  bishop,  who 
had  bravely  appeared  in  the  ranks,  musket  in  hand, 
received  a  wound  in  the  heel.  At  the  castle  gates 
the  fight  was  resumed,  this  time  with  some  spirit. 
The  defenders  endeavored  to  barricade  the  entrance, 
but  notwithstanding  the  unquestionable  bravery  of 
their  commanders,  one  of  whom,  Lieutenant  Sills, 
wounded  an  officer  of  the  attacking  party,  the  gate 
was  forced  open  and  what  remained  of  the  British 
laid  down  their  arms.  These  were  nineteen  in 
number.  The  rest  had  been  killed  or  wounded,  or 
had  fled.  Among  the  latter  were  the  two  officers 
from  Ballina,  who  carried  the  news  to  their  com- 
mander. 

An  interesting  scene  occurred  when  the  smoke 
in  the  court-yard  had  cleared  away.  A  tall  man  of 
resolute  mien,  wearing  a  general's  epaulettes,  who 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  of  the  fight,  accompanied 
by  a  numerous  staff,  and  who  proved  to  be  Hum- 
bert himself,  suddenly  ordered  the  troops  in  stento- 
rian tones  to  ground  arms.  Then  turning  to  the 
three  prisoners,  Mr.  Rutledge  and  the  Stock  boys, 
who  had  been  brought  with  the  column,  he  asked 
through  an  interpreter  where  the  bishop  could  be 
found.  Naturally  the  badly  frightened  men  were 
unable  to  supply  the  information;  but  the  suspense 
was  of  short  duration,  for  presently  the  worthy  prel- 
ate emerged  from  the  bushes  of  his  garden  near 
by.  He  was  at  once  assured  by  the  same  inter- 
preter, one  Bartholomew    Teeling — of  whom   there 


OF  IRELAND   IN  '<?S.  35 

will  be  occasion  to  speak  further  on — that  no  harm 
was  intended ;  and  as  he  stepped  forward  Hum- 
bert extended  his  hand.  What  improved  matters 
was  the  bishop's  knowledge  of  French,  an  advan- 
tage which,  combined  with  his  honest  exterior, 
impressed  the  general  favorably.  At  all  events 
the  latter's  first  words  breathed  kindness  and  good 
will. 

"Take  my  word  for  it,"  was  his  assurance,  "that 
neither  your  people  nor  yourself  shall  have  cause  to 
feel  any  apprehension.  We  have  come  to  your 
country  not  as  conquerors,  but  as  deliverers,  and 
shall  take  only  from  you  absolutely  what  is  neces- 
sary for  our  support.  You  are  as  safe  under  our 
protection  as  you  were  under  that  of  his  Majesty, 
the  King  of  England." 

All  contemporaneous  authorities,  be  they  Eng- 
lish or  Irish,  loyalist  or  revolutionist,  agree  that,  to 
the  honor  of  the  French  name,  this  promise  was 
religiously  kept.  History  furnishes  few  examples 
of  so  scrupulous  an  observance  of  the  rules  of  civi^ 
lized  warfare,  so  thorough  a  respect  for  the  rights 
of  the  conquered,  as  distinguished  the  operations  of 
General  Humbert  and  his  little  army. 

And  now  a  few  words  regarding  the  origin  and 
organization  of  this  expedition,  which  for  a  short 
period  threatened  to  crush  out  England's  suprem- 
acy in  the  Emerald  Isle.  In  the  preceding  chap- 
ter reference  was  made  to  the  several  isolated 
attempts  on  the   part  of  the   French  Directory  to 


36  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

land  an  invading  army  on  the  Irish  coast.  The  last 
one  had  been  balked  by  Bonaparte's  designs  on 
Egypt.  Thereafter  the  demands  for  aid  of  the 
Irish  emissaries  in  Paris  only  became  more  urgent 
and  incessant.  Owing  to  the  Egyptian  expedition 
having  well  nigh  drained  the  republic  of  money, 
ships  and  stores,  several  months  elapsed  before  a 
fresh  armament  could  be  equipped.  This  time  it 
was  decided  to  send  out  two  small  advance  forces, 
and  to  follow  them  up  later  with  a  main  body.  For 
that  end  General  Humbert  was  stationed  at  La 
Rochelle  with  about  1,000  veterans,  while  General 
Hardy  took  up  quarters  at  Brest  with  3,000  soldiers, 
mainly  ex-convicts.  The  gros  of  the  expeditionary 
force,  numbering  10,000  men,  was  placed  under  the 
orders  of  "  Kilmai?ie  le  brave"  as  his  companions-in- 
arms delighted  to  call  him.  This  distinguished 
officer  was  an  Irishman  by  birth,  named  Jennings, 
who  assumed  the  "  nom  dc  guerre "  of  Kilmaine 
upon  entering  the  French  military  service,  where 
his  splendid  achievements  on  the  frontier  of  the 
Austrian  Netherlands  elevated  him  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-general. 

Of  these  three  separate  forces  only  the  smallest, 
under  the  orders  of  Humbert,  was  destined  to  reach 
its  goal.  Humbert  himself,  if  some  of  his  biog- 
raphers are  to  be  believed,  was  far  from  being  the 
ideal  hero  of  a  romance  of  war.  To  his  many  brill- 
iant parts  were  allied  vices  that  in  any  but  a  dis- 
organized  state   of   society   must   have   disqualified 


OF  IRELAND  IN  •$«?.  37 

him  for  every  position  of  honor.  Beset  as  she  was 
at  that  epoch  with  enemies  on  all  her  borders, 
France  had  need  for  every  citizen  who  could  con- 
tribute to  the  salvation  of  the  fatherland.  Purity 
of  character  was  little  in  demand,  and  the  man  of 
ability,  however  unscrupulous,  possessed  better 
chances  of  advancement  than  his  honest  but  me- 
diocre neighbor.  The  authorities  are  divided  both 
as  to  Humbert's  birth-place  and  the  date  of  his 
birth.1  From  one  source  we  learn  that  he  was  born 
at  Rouveroye,  November  25,  1755  ;  from  another 
that  he  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  1767  at  Bouvron 
(Meurthe).  But  this  is  a  small  matter.  It  appears 
to  be  beyond  dispute  that  young  Jean-Joseph 
Amable  Humbert  was  a  "  hard  character  "  from  the 
very  start,  and  that  he  brought  much  sorrow  on  his 
grandmother,  on  whom  the  care  of  the  youth  de- 
volved after  the  early  death  of  both  his  parents. 
After  leading  her  a  life  of  misery,  he  left  her  roof  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  to  enter  the  service  of  a  cloth 
merchant  in  a  neighboring  town.  He  had  shown 
an  early  disposition  to  pay  undue  attentions  to  the 
fair  sex,  and  his  handsome  face  and  lithesome  figure 
had  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  these  matters. 
Away  from  home  the  temptation  grew  stronger, 
and  we  soon  find  him  dismissed  from  his  employ 
for  acts  of  gross  immorality.     The  youth  returned 

1  See  Didot's  Biographie  Universelle,  Paris,  1852  ;  Michaud's 
Biographie  Universelle,  Paris.  1848;  Le  Bas'  Encyclopcedie  Bio- 
graphique,  Paris,  1853. 


3  8  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

to  Rouveroye,1  but  his  reputation  had  preceded 
him,  and  he  saw  every  door  closed  at  his  coming. 

For  the  second  time  he  left  home  to  seek  his  for- 
tunes elsewhere,  and  again,  as  before,  his  ill-conduct 
brought  with  it  a  summary  dismissal  from  a  steady 
situation  in  a  hat  factory  in  Lyons.  The  young 
man  now  became  a  social  pariah.  These  were  still 
ante-revolutionary  times,  and  a  disgraced  employe 
found  it  difficult  to  secure  recognition  anywhere. 
Starvation  stared  our  hero  in  the  face.  In  this 
dilemma  a  happy  thought  struck  him.  He  had  cas- 
ually discovered  that  skins  of  certain  animals,  such 
as  rabbits,  young  goats,  etc.,  were  in  great  demand 
in  the  glove  and  leggings  factories  of  Lyons  and 
Grenoble.  He  therefore  started  out  with  a  few 
francs  in  his  pockets,  and  wandering  among  the 
remote  villages  of  the  Vosges  district,  purchased  at 
low  rates  as  much  of  this  merchandise  as  his  means 
would  allow.  A  handsome  profit  on  the  first  batch 
encouraged  him  to  undertake  a  second  and  a  third 
tour,  and  after  awhile  his  figure  became  familiar 
throughout  a  large  tract  of  the  country. 

At  last  there  resounded  the  tocsin  of  the  great 
revolution.  For  once  the  heart  of  the  wanderer 
seems  to  have  throbbed  with  a  grand  impulse.  The 
fires  of  ambition  that  had  lain  dormant  in  his  breast 
blazed  forth  in  all  their  fury.  Abandoning  his  now 
prosperous  pursuits,  he  threw  himself  into  the  great 

1  'I  he  weight  of  evidence  is  in  favor  of  Rouveroye  as  the  birth- 
place of  Humbert. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'gS.  39 

movement.  Peasants  who  had  bartered  and  bar- 
gained with  him,  maidens  who  had  known  him  as  a 
peripatetic  swain,  were  electrified  by  the  earnestness 
of  his  exhortations.  He  joined  one  of  the  first  vol- 
unteer battalions  organized  among  the  Vosges,  and 
by  his  active  republicanism  no  less  than  by  his  mili- 
tary qualities,  quickly  rose  to  be  its  chief.  With 
the  rank  of  Marechal-de-camp,  he  accompanied  the 
army  under  Beurnonville  which  in  1793  burst  into 
the  territory  of  Treves.  It  was  here  that  another 
bad  side  to  his  character  disclosed  itself.  On  the 
field  of  battle  brave  to  a  fault,  utterly  regardless  of 
his  own  person  and  ever  ready  to  embark  in  the 
most  perilous  enterprise,  in  camp  he  proved  himself 
an  arch  intriguer.  Anxious  to  secure  promotion, 
he  secretly  sought  permission  from  the  Directory  to 
act  as  an  informer  on  the  movements  of  his  com- 
rades-in-arms, averring  that  many  were  guilty  of 
lukewarmness  in  the  cause  of  the  republic.  Beur- 
nonville, however,  got  wind  of  his  subordinate's 
schemes,  and  wrote  a  scathing  letter  of  denunciation 
to  the  military  authorities  in  Paris,  characterizing 
the  action  as  the  height  of  baseness  (le  comble  de  la 
sctteratesse)  on  Humbert's  part,  and  demanding  his 
immediate  recall. 

Concluding  a  modus  vivendi  between  the  two  to 
be  henceforth  out  of  the  question,  the  Directory 
reluctantly  acceded  to  Beurnonville's  request,  and 
for  some  months  Humbert  prowled  around  Jacobin 
headquarters  in  Paris,  awaiting  fresh   employment. 


40  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

His  persuasive  eloquence  and  apparent  earnestness 
as  a  promoter  of  republican  doctrine  made  him  a 
favorite  there.  In  April,  1794,  he  was  promoted 
general  of  brigade  and  given  a  command  in  the  Army 
of  the  West.  Of  all  the  different  forces  sent  out  to 
combat  the  enemies  of  the  republic,  that  which  op- 
posed the  fierce  cJwuans  of  La  Vendee  encountered 
the  greatest  dangers  and  obstacles.  Victor  Hugo, 
in  his  Ltgende  des  Siecles,  has  fittingly  described  the 
struggle  as  a  combat  "  'twixt  the  soldiers  of  light 
and  the  heroes  of  darkness  ;  "  and  in  truth,  were  it 
not  for  the  atrocities  committed  on  both  sides,  this 
campaign  might  take  its  place  among  the  most  brill- 
iant annals  of  ancient  chivalry.  .  Neither  party 
asked  nor  expected  quarter.  It  was  a  war  to  the 
knife,  without  truce,  without  respite.  Humbert 
showed  himself  equal  to  every  emergency.  He 
hunted  down  the  foe  with  unabating  ardor,  tracked 
him  into  his  marshy  lairs  and  forest  fastnesses,  and 
won  the  admiration  of  the  entire  army  by  his  per- 
sonal disregard  of  danger.  After  many  months  of 
hard  fighting,  the  Convention  decided  to  adopt  a 
milder  course  toward  the  insurgents,  and  on  March 
7,  1795,  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Nantes  by  which,  in 
return  for  certain  privileges,  the  Vendeans  agreed  to 
acknowledge  the  republic.  The  pause  in  hostilities 
was  unfortunately  of  short  duration.  Cormatin-De- 
soteux,  the  chonan  leader,  having  repeatedly  violated 
several  provisions  of  the  treaty,  Humbert  effected 
his   arrest,  and   sent    him    in   chains   to    Cherbourg. 


OF  IRELAND  m  stf>  4* 

This  act,  coupled  with  the  discovery  of  a  traitorous 
correspondence  between  the  Vendean  leaders  and 
the  English  Government,  fanned  the  smouldering 
embers  of  factional  hatred,  and  by  the  beginning 
of  summer  the  civil  war  was  renewed  with  increased 
ferocity. 

As  second  in  command  under  General  Hoche, 
Humbert  took  part  in  all  the  operations  at  Qui- 
beron  against  the  Anglo-Emigrant  Army  landed  by 
a  British  fleet.  He  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat  on 
the  invaders  on  July  16th,  from  behind  his  en- 
trenchments at  St.  Barbe,  and  on  the  20th  stormed 
the  fort  of  Penthievre,  thereby  destroying  or  cap- 
turing the  entire  emigrant  force.  The  subsequent 
massacre  of  prisoners,  which  will  ever  remain  a  blot 
on  the  escutcheon  of  the  republic,  is,  however,  not 
to  be  laid  at  his  door.  The  horrible  act  was 
ordered  by  the  two  General  Commissaries,  Blad  and 
Tallien,  and  was  executed  against  the  wishes  both 
of  Hoche  and  Humbert.  The  latter  had  not  made 
himself  popular  among  the  Moderatists  while  in 
Paris,  and  the  opportunity  was  seized  upon  by  the 
newspapers  of  the  Clichy  party  to  hold  him  up  to 
public  contempt.  His  early  vocation  was  thrown 
up  against  him,  and  the  former  "  marchand  de 
peaux  de  lapin "  became  the  target  of  many  a 
satire  in  prose  and  verse.  All  these  assaults  were 
fruitless,  however.  If  anything,  they  tended  to  ce- 
ment his  influence  with  the  Directory.  In  any  case 
he  was  made  a  general  of  division,  and  selected,  a 


42  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

year  after,  to  accompany  Hoche  in  the  expedition 
to  Ireland.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to 
this  event,  and  to  the  failure  of  the  French  to 
effect  a  landing.  One  of  their  ships,  the  Droits  de 
l' Homme,  a  seventy-four,  was  intercepted  on  the 
retreat  by  two  English  vessels,  and  between  their 
cross  fire  and  the  raging  of  a  terrific  storm,  she  was 
completely  wrecked.  Of  the  1, 800  men  on  board, 
barely  400  escaped  with  their  lives,  and  among 
these  was  General  Humbert. 

Such  was  the  career  of  the  man  upon  whom  now 
devolved  the  task  of  bearding  the  British  lion  in  his 
den.  To  complete  the  picture  one  cannot  do  bet- 
ter than  quote  the  following  estimate  of  his  char- 
acter, contained  in  an  anonymous  pamphlet  pub- 
lished in  1800,  the  authorship  of  which  has  been 
brought  home  to  Bishop  Stock,  of  Killala : ' 

"  Humbert,  the  leader  of  this  singular  body  of 
men,"  says  the  writer,  "  was  himself  as  extraordi- 
nary a  personage  as  any  in  his  army.  Of  a  good 
height  and  shape,  in  the  full  vigor  of  life,  prompt 
to  decide,  quick  in  execution,  apparently  master  of 
his  art,  you  could  not  refuse  him  the  praise  of  a 
good  officer,  while  his  physiognomy  forbade  you  to 
like  him  as  a  man.  His  eye,  which  was  small  and 
sleepy  (the  effect,  probably,  of  much  watching), 
cast  a  sidelong  glance  of  insidiousness,  and  even  of 
cruelty:  it  was  the  eye  of  a  cat  preparing  to  spring 
upon  her  prey.      His  education    and    manners  were 

1  A  Narrative  of  Wliat  Passed  at  Killala.      By  an  Eye-witness. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'gS.  43 

indicative  of  a  person  sprung  from  the  lower  order 
of  society,  though  he  knew  how  (as  most  of  his 
countrymen  can  do)  to  assume,  where  it  was  con- 
venient, the  deportment  of  a  gentleman.  For 
learning  he  had  scarcely  enough  to  enable  him  to 
write  his  name.  His  passions  were  furious,  and  all 
his  behavior  seemed  marked  with  the  characters  of 
roughness  and  violence.  A  narrower  observation 
of  him,  however,  served  to  discover  that  much  of 
this  roughness  was  the  result  of  art,  being  assumed 
with  the  view  of  extorting  by  terror  a  ready  com- 
pliance with  his  commands." 

Prior  to  his  embarkation  from  La  Rochelle  Hum- 
bert had  difficulties  of  no  trifling  nature  to  con- 
tend with.  As  stated,  France's  resources  had  been 
sorely  taxed  by  the  expedition  to  Egypt,  and 
neither  money  nor  even  necessaries  for  the  troops 
could  be  obtained  from  the  Commissariat  Depart- 
ment. Yet  no  obstacle  could  daunt  the  indomit- 
able spirit  of  the  soldier.  Hoche  was  no  more, 
but  the  same  determination  to  strike  a  blow  at 
England's  vital  point  controlled  the  actions  of  his 
friend  and  successor.  Impatient  of  delay,  and  re- 
fusing longer  to  await  the  cooperation  of  others, 
Humbert  and  his  slender  detachment  put  to  sea  on 
the  morning  of  August  4th,  at  seven  o'clock.  The 
event  occasioned  much  enthusiasm  in  La  Rochelle, 
and  the  quays  were  thronged  with  citizens  who 
shouted  themselves  hoarse  in  bidding  god-speed  to 
the  "  Army  of  Ireland."     A  powerful   English  fleet 


44  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

was  cruising  within  a  mile  of  the  port,  and  it  re* 
quired  great  skill  on  the  part  of  Division  Com- 
mander Daniel  Savary  to  escape  a  conflict.  Only 
by  plying  vigorously  to  the  windward  did  he  suc- 
ceed. It  had  been  decided  in  advance  that  rather 
than  accept  battle  against  the  tremendous  odds  the 
three  vessels  should  be  run  aground  on  the  Spanish 
coast.1 

Humbert's  armament  consisted  of  three  frigates: 
the  Concorde  and  Mede'e,  of  44  eighteen-pounders 
each,  and  the  Franchise,  of  38  twelve-pounders. 
His  entire  landing  strength  did  not  exceed  1,060 
rank  and  file  and  70  officers,  with  two  pieces  of 
field  artillery,  four-pounders.  He  also  brought 
5,500  stands  of  arms  for  the  arming  of  the  Irish 
peasantry.2  His  troops  were  composed  in  the 
main  of  infantry  of  the  line,  with  two  companies  of 
grenadiers  and  a  squadron  of  the  Third  Regiment 
of  Chasseurs.  All  were  veterans  and  had  seen  ser- 
vice under  Jourdan  and  Moreau  on  the  Rhine,  or 
under  Bonaparte  in  Italy. 

The  officers,  some  of  whom  bore  on  their  per- 
sons the  marks  of  many  a  bloody  encounter,  de- 
serve a  preliminary  notice.     There  was  Sarrazin,  to 

1  Fontaine's  Notice  Historique. 

2  These  figures  are  from  Sir  Richard  Musgrave's  Memoirs  and 
other  authentic  sources.  However,  according  to  Fontaine,  Hum- 
bert's adjutant-general,  the  total  strength  amounted  to  but  1,032 
men,  viz.  :  the  second  battalion  of  the  70th  Half-Hrigade,  45  Chas- 
seurs a  Cheval  belonging  to  the  Third  Regiment,  42  coast-guard 
gunners,  and  50  officers.      See    Fontaine's  Notice  Historique,  page  2. 


r 


1 


GENERAL   SARRAZIN, 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  45 

begin  with,  a  remarkable  figure  in  his  way,  whose 
career,  like  Humbert's,  may  be  considered  thor- 
oughly illustrative  of  the  peculiar  conditions  cre- 
ated in  the  military  system  of  France  by  the 
change  in  her  political  life.  Born  in  1770,  the  third 
year  of  the  revolution  already  saw  him  a  captain 
of  infantry.  In  1794  he  was  transferred  to  the  En- 
gineers, but  shortly  after,  in  consequence  of  prow- 
ess in  the  field,  received  his  commission  as  colonel 
of  the  Fourteenth  Regiment  of  Dragoons.  In 
1796  he  was  already  a  general-adjutant,  and,  as 
will  soon  be  shown,  the  "  Irish  Campaign  "  brought 
him  further  promotion.  Sarrazin,  in  other  words, 
was  the  true  type  of  the  French  Republican  sol- 
dier: a  product  of  those  troublesome  and  stormy 
times  when  success  meant  rapid  rise  to  honors  and 
distinctions,  and  failure — the  gory  embrace  of  the 
guillotine  ! ■  Next  in  authority  after  Sarrazin 
came  Adjutant-General  Louis  Octave  Fontaine,  to 
whose  pen  the  author  is  indebted  for  a  remarkable 
account  of  the  expedition.  His  book,  or  pamphlet, 
was  published  in  Paris  two  years  after  the  event, 
and  although  it  teems  with  errors,  geographical, 
chronological  and  others,  it  is  valuable  as  the  only 
authentic  French  version  in  existence,  outside  of 
General  Humbert's  meagre  reports  to  the  Direc- 
tory.   The  writer  constantly  refers  to  himself  in  the 

1  These  particulars  are  from  a  periodical  entitled  The  Philosopher, 
edited  by  Sarrazin  himself  while  an  exile  in  London  some  years 
later. 


46  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

third  person  as  "  le  brave  Gdne'ral  Fontaine"  and 
would  have  us  believe  that  the  partial  success  of 
the  invasion  was  due  to  his  own  foresight  and 
energy.  With  a  naivete'  refreshing  for  its  very 
frankness,  he  places  himself  in  the  light  of  a 
Deus  ex  machina,  ever  turning  up  at  the  right  mo- 
ment to  extricate  his  companions  from  dire  dilem- 
mas and  show  them  the  road  to  victory.  This 
naivete  attains  its  pinnacle  when,  as  if  by  an  after- 
thought, he  explains  at  the  conclusion  of  his  work 
that  he  has  purposely  omitted  mentioning  the 
names  of  his  companions-in-arms  for  fear  of  over- 
looking any  one  of  them  and  thus  causing  un- 
merited pain.  The  fatuous  vanity  of  the  writer, 
and  his  unfortunate  habit  of  treating  Irish  names 
and  places  as  unworthy  of  proper  record,  does  not 
prevent  his  furnishing  many  a  missing  link  to 
the  chain  of  evidence  touching  this  extraordinary 
phase  of  modern  history,  and  for  so  much,  if  for 
no  other  reason,  posterity  must  feel  grateful  to 
him. 

Several  Irishmen  accompanied  Humbert  in  vari- 
ous capacities.  Bartholomew  Teeling,  of  Lisburn, 
was  one.  He  was  a  young  man  who  had  left  his 
native  country — a  mere  stripling — to  join  the 
French  Republican  Army.  He  had  fought  side  by 
side  with  rabid  atheists  and  open  enemies  of  the 
Church,  and  yet  through  all  these  experiences  his 
faith  in  the  religion  of  his  forefathers  had  never 
slackened.     A   scholar,   a  patriot  and  an   observer, 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'g8.  47 

with  an  admixture  of  the  enthusiast,  he  had  not 
allowed  his  political  convictions  to  interfere  with 
his  religious  belief.  His  mildness  of  manner  and 
patrician  bearing  formed  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the 
rough,  soldier-like  deportment  of  Humbert,  who 
had  selected  him  as  his  aide-de-camp.  Humbert's 
official  interpreter  was  another  Irishman,  one  Henry 
O'Keon,  the  son  of  a  cow-herd  of  Lord  Tyrawley. 
He  was  born  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kilcummin, 
the  landing-place  of  the  French  near  Killala — a  cir- 
cumstance which  points  its  own  conclusion  and  re- 
futes the  oft-repeated  statement  that  that  spot  had 
been  selected  by  mere  chance.  Having  learned  a 
little  Latin  at  school,  O'Keon  repaired  to  Nantes, 
Brittany,  where  he  studied  theology  and  received 
holy  orders.  On  the  advent  of  the  republic  he 
suddenly  changed  his  convictions — if  indeed  he  had 
ever  entertained  any — enlisted  in  the  army  as  a 
private,  and  was  gradually  advanced  to  the  rank  of 
major.  He  was  physically  well  developed  and 
possessed  the  heavy,  coarse  features  of  the  lower 
type  of  the  Celtic  race.  The  merry  twinkle  of 
his  eyes  and  the  joviality  of  his  ruddy  counte- 
nance completely  dispelled  the  repellent  effect  of  a 
pair  of  heavy,,  beetling  eyebrows.  He  spoke  Irish 
and  French  fluently,  and  English  indifferently. 
His  part  in  the  campaign  was  a  creditable  one, 
and  would  entitle  him  to  an  honorable  place  in 
its  history  had  he  not  marred  it  by  an  act  of 
dishonesty    toward    the    Bishop    of    Killala,    and    a 


4§  FRENCH  INVASION  OF  IRELAND. 

breach  of  good  morals,  before  his  final  departure  for 
France. 1 

Two  other  Irishmen  accompanied  the  expedition 
— Matthew  Tone,  already  mentioned,  brother  of 
the  celebrated  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone,  and  one 
O'Sullivan,  a  native  of  South  Ireland  and  one  of 
the  very  few  rebel  leaders  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  escape  the  avenging  hand  of  the  British 
Government.  Although  captured  by  the  loyalists, 
he  was  not  recognized,  and  afterward  made  his 
way  back  to  the  continent. 

1  He  swindled  Bishop  Stock  out  of  twelve  guineas  and  took  away 
with  him  from  Dublin  another  man's  wife. — Narrative  of  What 
Passed  at  Killala. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A  Proclamation  to  the  Irish  People — Astonishment  of  the  Invaders 
at  the  Religious  Zeal  of  their  Irish  Allies — Peculiar  Position  of 
the  Irish  Clergy — Their  Intolerance  rebuked  by  the  French., 


S  the  last  rays  of  the  setting 
sun  illumined  the  town  and 
bay  of  Killala  on  that  mem- 
orable 22d  of  August,  1798, 
a  French  soldier  climbed  to 
the  roof  of  the  Episcopal 
palace  and  lowered  the  Brit- 
ish colors  that  from  time 
immemorial  had  floated  there.  The 
staff  was  not  destined  to  remain  long 
bare,  for  presently  a  green  flag,  with  a  harp  em- 
broidered in  the  centre,  and  bearing  the  motto, 
"  Erin  go  Bragh"  rose  slowly  from  its  base,  greeted 
by  a  triple  salvo  and  the  cheers  of  a  large  concourse 
of  people.  The  inhabitants  of  Killala  had  fully 
realized  the  significance  of  the  situation,  and  the 
large  majority  being  malcontents,  the  invading 
army  had  been  surrounded  by  enthusiastic  throngs, 
eager  to  offer  help  and  cooperation. 
4 


50  THE    FRENCH  INVASION 

To  what  extent  the  leaders  of  the  insurgents 
were  prepared  for  Humbert's  coming  may  be  gath- 
ered from  the  somewhat  colored  statement  of  a 
loyalist  inhabitant,  who  declares  that  a  number  of 
them  appeared  from  the  start  in  uniforms  provided 
by  their  "  new  friends."  "  Nothing,"  he  continues, 
11  could  exceed  the  consternation  which  prevailed 
throughout  the  town — the  loyalists  every  moment 
expecting  to  be  butchered  in  cold  blood.  Men, 
women  and  children,  drowned  in  tears,  attempted 
to  escape,  but  in  vain.  Every  avenue  leading  from 
Killala  was  thronged  by  rebels  making  in  to  receive 
the  fraternal  embrace,  whose  eyes  indicated  the 
malignity  of  their  hearts.  No  one  was  permitted 
to  depart  but  on  business  which  concerned  the  in- 
vaders." J 

Humbert  was  not  dilatory  in  arranging  for  the 
provisioning  of  his  troops.  His  supplies  had  run 
short,  owing  to  the  hurry  of  his  departure  from  La 
Rochelle,  and  he  had  no  reason  to  expect  any  fur- 
ther help  for  the  present  from  France.2  So  the 
very  evening  of  his  arrival  he  ordered  the  prisoners 
to  be  brought  before  him  and  questioned  them 
closely  as  to    the    resources    of    the    district.       He 

1  Jones'  Narrative  (Am.  reprint),  page  282. 

*  Here  is  Adjutant-General  Fontaine's  reflection  on  this  subject 
(See  his  Notice  Historique,  page  6):  "Nous  avions  a  bord  ties 
provisions  a  bouche,  e'est-a-dire.  quelques  sacs  de  biscuits,  et  une 
pipe  d'eau-de-vie.  On  jugera  par  ce  detail  exact  que  nous  nous 
etions  plus  occupe's  de  la  gloire  que  des  moyens  d 'assurer  notre 
existence." 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  51 

assured  the  bishop,  however,  that  while  the  neces- 
sities of  war  would  compel  him  to  requisition  a 
certain  number  of  horses  and  cattle,  he  intended 
eventually  to  compensate  the  owners,  who  would  in 
the  meanwhile  receive  vouchers  for  all  such  prop- 
erty, payable  on  the  Irish  Directory,  shortly  to  be 
established  in  Connaught.  Magistrate  Kirkwood's 
answers  to  the  different  interrogatories,  as  inter- 
preted by  Teeling,  were  apparently  so  frank  and 
truthful  that  Humbert  took  a  fancy  to  him,  and, 
placing  him  on  parole,  assured  him  that  he  would 
be  entirely  unmolested  and  allowed  to  attend  to  his 
private  affairs,  provided  he  remained  within  the 
town's  limits.  Unhappily  for  the  magistrate,  his 
invalid  wife  had  meanwhile  fled  to  the  neighboring 
mountains,  and  his  anxiety  for  her  welfare  resulted 
in  his  starting  out  in  search  of  her  the  very  next 
day.  Of  course  this  action  was  regarded  as  a  fla- 
grant breach  of  parole,  and  in  retaliation  the  French 
helped  themselves  freely  to  everything  they  could 
find  in  his  house.  They  also  permitted  the  Irish 
revolutionists  to  ransack  it  from  top  to  bottom,  so 
that  Kirkwood  subsequently  returned  to  find  his 
home  a  ruin. 

But  if  one  excepts  a  little  sally  of  ill-humor  on 
Humbert's  part  when  he  discovered,  the  day  after 
the  landing,  that  the  bishop  had  failed  to  comply 
with  the  orders  for  furnishing  horses  and  cattle, 
the  treatment  of  Kirkwood  was  the  only  approach 
to  severity  that  can  be   laid    at    the   door   of   the 


52  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

French  during  their  entire  stay  in  Ireland.  If  we  are 
to  believe  the  bishop  himself — and  he  certainly  could 
have  no  motive  for  exaggerating  the  virtues  of  the 
invaders  of  his  country — the  discipline  maintained 
by  Humbert's  troops  was  excellent  throughout. 
"With  every  temptation  to  plunder,"  he  remarks, 
"  which  the  time  and  the  number  of  valuable  articles 
within  their  reach  presented  to  them  in  the  bish- 
op's palace,  from  a  sideboard  of  plate  and  glasses, 
a  hall  filled  with  hats,  whips,  and  great-coats,  as 
well  of  the  guests  as  of  the  family,  not  a  single 
particular  of  private  property  was  found  to  have 
been  carried  away  when  the  owners,  after  the  first 
fright  was  over,  came  to  look  for  their  effects,  which 
was  not  for  a  day  or  two  after  the  landing.  Imme- 
diately upon  entering  the  dining-room  a  French 
officer  had  called  for  the  bishop's  butler,  and  gath- 
ering up  the  spoons  and  glasses  had  desired  him  to 
take  them  to  his  pantry.  Beside  the  entire  use  of 
other  apartments  during  the  stay  of  the  French 
in  Killala,  the  attic  story,  containing  a  library  and 
three  bed-chambers,  continued  sacred  to  the  bishop 
and  his  family.  And  so  scrupulous  was  the  deli- 
cacy of  the  French  not  to  disturb  the  female  part 
of  the  house,  that  not  one  of  them  was  ever  seen  to 
go  higher  than  the  middle  floor,  except  on  the  even- 
ing of  their  success  at  Castlebar,  when  two  officers 
begged  leave  to  carry  to  the  family  the  news  of  the 
battle,  and  seemed  a  little  mortified  that  the  intel- 
ligence was  received  with  an  air  of  dissatisfaction." 


OF  IRELAND   IN  '<p#.  53 

On  the  morning  of  the  23d  the  French  com- 
mander issued  a  proclamation  that  had  been  care- 
fully prepared  by  himself  and  the  Irish  officers  ac- 
companying the  expedition.  It  was  couched  in  the 
florid  language  of  the  day,  and,  translated  into  the 
Irish  tongue,  was  well  calculated  to  stir  the  fervid 
Celtic  nature  to  action.     It  read  as  follows : 

LIBERTY,  EQUALITY,  FRATERNITY,  UNION  ! 

Irishmen  : 

You  have  not  forgotten  Bantry  Bay — you  know  what  efforts 
France  has  made  to  assist  you.  Her  affections  for  you,  her 
desire  for  avenging  your  wrongs  and  insuring  your  independ- 
ence, can  never  be  impaired. 

After  several  unsuccessful  attempts,  behold  Frenchmen 
arrived  amongst  you. 

They  come  to  support  your  courage,  to  share  your  dangers, 
to  join  their  arms  and  to  mix  their  blood  with  yours  in  the 
sacred  cause  of  liberty !  They  are  the  forerunners  of  other 
Frenchmen,  whom  you  shall  soon  enfold  in  your  arms. 

Brave  Irishmen,  our  cause  is  common  ;  like  you,  we  abhor 
the  avaricious  and  bloodthirsty  policy  of  an  oppressive  govern- 
ment ;  like  you,  we  hold  as  indefensible  the  right  of  all  nations 
to  liberty  ;  like  you,  we  are  persuaded  that  the  peace  of  the 
world  shall  ever  be  troubled  as  long  as  the  British  Ministry  is 
suffered  to  make  with  impunity  a  traffic  of  the  industry,  labor 
and  blood  of  the  people. 

But  exclusive  of  the  same  interests  which  unite  us,  we  have 
powerful  motives  to  love  and  defend  you. 

Have  we  not  been  the  pretext  of  the  cruelty  exercised 
against  you  by  the  Cabinet  of  St.  James  ?  The  heartfelt  inter- 
est you  have  shown  in  the  grand  events  of  our  revolution — 
has  it  not  been  imputed  to  you  as  a  crime  ?     Are  not  tortures 


54  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

and  death  continually  hanging  over  such  of  you  as  are  barely 
suspected  of  being  our  friends  ?  Let  us  unite,  then,  and 
march  to  glory. 

We  swear  the  most  inviolable  respect  for  yottr  properties, 
your  laws,  and  all  your  religious  opinions.  Be  free  !  be 
masters  in  your  own  country.  We  look  for  no  other  con- 
guest  than  that  of  your  liberty — no  other  success  than 
yours. 

The  moment  of  breaking  your  chains  has  arrived  ;  our  tri- 
umphant troops  are  now  flying  to  the  extremities  of  the  earth 
to  tear  up  the  roots  of  the  wealth  and  tyranny  of  our  enemies. 
That  frightened  Colossus  is  mouldering  away  in  every  part. 
Can  there  be  any  Irishman  base  enough  to  separate  himself  at 
such  a  happy  conjuncture  from  the  grand  interests  of  his 
country  ?  If  such  there  be,  brave  friends,  let  him  be  chased 
from  the  country  he  betrays,  and  let  his  property  become  the 
reward  of  those  generous  men  who  know  how  to  fight  and 
die! 

Irishmen,  recollect  the  late  defeats  which  your  enemies  have 
experienced  from  the  French  ;  recollect  the  claims  of  Hons- 
coote,  Toulon,  Ouiberon,  and  Ostend  ;  recollect  America,  free 
from  the  moment  she  wished  to  be  so. 

The  contest  between  you  and  your  oppressors  cannot  be 
long. 

Union  !  Liberty  !  the  Irish  Republic  !  such  is  our  shout. 
Let  us  march.  Our  hearts  are  devoted  to  you  ;  our  glory  is  in 
your  happiness. 

Humbert. 

The  forenoon  of  the  23d  was  occupied  in  trans- 
porting the  munition  and  military  stores  from  the 
ships  to  the  town  of  Killala.  Having  attended  to 
this  and  placed  his  prisoners  in  charge  of  Savary, 
Humbert  next  bethought  himself  of  the  enemy.    He 


OF  IRELAND   IN  yg8.  55 

sent  Sarrazin — promoted  to  the  rank  of  general  of 
brigade  for  his  spirited  conduct  of  the  preceding 
day — with  a  small  force  in  the  direction  of  Ballina 
to  reconnoitre  the  country.  Ballina,  a  fishing  town 
on  the  River  Moy,  was  in  the  hands  of  several  troops 
of  carabineers  and  yeomanry  infantry  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Sir  Thomas  Chapman  and  Ma- 
jor Kerr,  the  greater  part  of  which  had  come  up 
during  the  night  by  forced  marches  from  Foxford — 
another  point  still  further  to  the  south — on  the  first 
alarm  of  Humbert's  arrival.  Sarrazin's  movements 
were  so  rapid  and  unexpected  that  he  fell  upon  a 
party  of  the  enemy  engaged  in  feeding  their  horses, 
and  almost  succeeded  in  surrounding  them.  A  sharp 
engagement  followed,  ending  in  the  flight  of  the 
British.  After  pursuing  them  two  leagues,  Sar- 
razin, considering  his  mission  accomplished,  returned 
in  the  afternoon  to  Killala. 

Here  the  preparations  for  an  active  campaign 
were  being  pushed  with  great  energy.  Humbert's 
programme  being  to  organize  a  regular  army  com- 
posed of  Irishmen,  he  assembled  all  the  leading 
agitators  of  the  vicinity,  to  obtain  their  aid  and  coun- 
sel. It  was  at  this  period,  already,  that  he  dis- 
covered the  great  gulf  which  separated  the  French 
Republican  and  Freethinker  from  the  Irish  patriot 
and  Catholic.  Humbert,  a  soldier  of  the  nation 
that  had  driven  the  pope  from  Italy,  found  himself, 
to  his  surprise,  the  would-be  deliverer  of  a  race  to 
whom    the    pontiff   was  but  one   remove   from  the 


5^  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

Deity  itself.  The  situation  was  as  startling  as  it 
was  unexpected,  not  to  him  alone  but  to  every  one 
of  his  followers — sons  of  the  great  revolution,  wor- 
shippers at  the  shrine  of  "Liberty"  and  "  Reason," 
to  whom  the  old  religions,  one  and  all,  were  part 
and  parcel  of  a  system  for  the  enslaving  of  the  hu- 
man mind  and  body.  From  the  neck  of  every  one 
of  the  sturdy  peasants  who  by  hundreds  gathered  in 
front  of  the  castle,  clamoring  for  arms  and  the  op- 
portunity to  march  against  the  common  foe,  hung  a 
square  piece  of  brown  cloth  with  the  letters  I.  H.  S.1 
inscribed  on  it.  These  were  scapulars  intended  to 
arm  them  with  fresh  courage  and  protect  them  from 
danger  in  the  hour  of  trial.  Some  carried  banners 
decorated  with  the  embroidered  counterfeit  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  and  infant  Jesus ;  some  held  up  cruci- 
fixes for  their  companions  to  adore.  All  greeted 
the  French  as  defenders  of  the  true  religion,  and 
asked  for  the  confiscation  of  all  Protestant  property; 
and  the  more  bloodthirsty  even  demanded  that  the 
entire  extirpation  of  the  heretics  be  commenced 
without  delay. 

To  Humbert  the  situation  was  embarrassing  in 
the  extreme.  On  the  one  hand,  by  rejecting  the 
demands  of  the  insurgents  he  risked  losing  their 
much-needed  assistance ;  on  the  other,  by  acceding 
to  them  he  would  be  violating  the  rules  of  war  and 
exposing  himself  and  his  men  to  the  vengeance  of 
the  enemy  in  case  of  defeat.      He   called   to  mind 

1  Jesus  hominum  Salvator. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'g8.  $7 

Moreau's  refusal  to  execute  the  Directory's  blood- 
thirsty decree,  ordering  the  killing  of  English  and 
Hanoverian  prisoners  of  war,  and  decided  to  adopt 
a  similar  course.  The  insurgents  were  therefore 
told  in  unmistakable  terms  that  all  attempts  to 
harm  any  loyalist  would  be  met  with  summary  pun- 
ishment of  the  offender. 

In  a  grandiloquent  manner  suited  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  case,  Humbert  addressed  his  hearers, 
through  the  medium  of  an  interpreter,  somewhat  as 
follows :  "  Citizens  and  brethren  :  understand  that  we 
are  soldiers,  not  highway  robbers.  We  have  landed 
here  to  fight  the  armies  of  the  King  of  England 
and  save  your  unfortunate  country — not  to  wage 
war  on  private  citizens.  We  in  France  acknowl- 
edge no  religion  that  preaches  intolerance  toward 
another.  We  believe  as  little  in  your  Pope  as  in 
your  Established  Church— Catholics  and  Protest- 
ants are  the  same  to  us.  We  believe  only  in  justice 
and  charity  to  all  mankind." 

This  harangue,  short  and  decisive,  produced  for 
the  time  being  the  desired  result.  Murmurs  were 
audible  for  a  moment,  but  the  wiser  counsel  pre- 
vailed and  the  recruiting  proceeded  without  further 
hindrance.  Strange  to  say,  most  active,  in  a  cer- 
tain sense,  in  promoting  the  interests  of  the  French 
were  the  priests  themselves,  whose  mission  Hum- 
bert had  inferentially  deprecated.  Not  so  much 
that  they  placed  patriotism  above  religious  preju- 
dice.    To  therrKthe  bearing  of  the  invaders  could 


5 8  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

never  have  been  a  disappointment,  for  were  they 
not  fully  cognizant  of  the  republic's  treatment  of 
the  clergy?  In  their  hearts  these  servants  of  Rome 
detested  the  Freethinker  as  cordially  as  they  abomi- 
nated their  Protestant  fellow-citizen;  but,  imbued 
with  the  Machiavellian  spirit  of  the  Church,  they 
seized  with  avidity  the  opportunity  of  annihilating 
one  foe  through  the  instrumentality  of  another. 
From  beginning  to  end  the  influence  of  several  of 
their  number  was  insidiously  directed  toward  en- 
compassing the  suppression  if  not  the  total  destruc- 
tion of  the  "  Orangemen,"  a  term  indiscriminately 
applied  to  all  non-Catholics,  and  but  for  the  ener- 
getic interposition  of  the  French  the  massacres  of 
Scullabogue  and  Wexford  x  would  in  all  probability 
have  found  their  counterparts  in  the  province  of 
Connaught.  That  the  parish  priests  especially  were 
very  assiduous  at  the  start  in  swelling  the  ranks  of 
the  rebel  forces  cannot  be  denied,  and  their  services 
were  fully  appreciated  by  the  French  commander, 
but  he  never  considered  them  any  the  more  entitled 
to  the  privilege  of  maltreating  or  plundering  their 
unprotected  enemies.  To  cite  one  example,  a  priest 
named  Sweeney,  who,  with  a  body  of  his  parishion- 
ers, had  joined  the  invaders  almost  immediately  after 
their  arrival,  approached  Lieutenant-Colonel  Charost 
with  the  request  that  Bishop  Stock's  library  be 
made  over  to   him,  as  he   was  very  fond   of  books. 

1  Two    towns  of   Leinster   in   which  horrible  atrocities   were  com- 
mitted by  the  rebels  during  the  outbreak  of  '98. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'gS.  $Q 

"  The  bishop's  library,"  replied  Charost  in  a  tone 
of  contempt,  "is  just  as  much  his  own  now  as  it 
ever  was."  '  Another  worthy  representative  of  the 
Church  militant  was  Father  Owen  Cowley,  of  the 
parish  of  Castleconnor,  Sligo,  who,  if  the  affidavits 
of  his  victims  can  be  credited,  spared  no  pains  to 
bring  about  the  wholesale  slaughter  of  the  English 
prisoners  confined  at  Ballina.  Though  he  failed  in 
this  pious  design  his  treatment  of  them  was  cruel 
in  the  extreme. 

But  this  phase  of  the  campaign  will  receive 
further  attention  in  another  chapter.  For  the  pres- 
ent it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  the  incongruity 
of  the  various  elements  gathered  together  in  Kill- 
ala  could  only  be  compared  to  the  unprecedented 
nature  of  the  situation  itself.  For  the  first  time, 
perhaps,  in  the  world's  history,  the  passions  of  war- 
ring religionists  were  restrained  by  the  intervention 
of  neutrals  entirely  devoid  of  all  religious  belief. 
Still  more  extraordinary  was  the  fact  that  many  of 
the  latter  had  but  two  years  befoie  been  engaged  in 
deadly  strife  with  an  element  very  similar  in  most 
respects  to  the  people  they  had  now  come  to  de- 
liver from  bondage.  In  the  bloody  struggle  of  La 
Vendee  the  republicans  had  been  opposed  to  men 
of  Celtic  race  and  intense  Catholicism — men  abhor- 
ring every  other  form  of  government  save  that 
sanctified  by  the  Holy  Father  and  his  servant,  the 
king.     Now  the  position  was  reversed.     The  scapu- 

1  Narrative  of  What  Passed  at  K 'ilia la. 


60  FRENCH  INVASION  OF  IRELAND. 

lar,  the  Church  banner,  the  censer  and  the  crucifix 
were  to  be  paraded  side  by  side  with  the  tricolor  of 
Atheism  and  Revolution.  War  and  politics  make 
strange  bed-fellows,  indeed ! 


MAR(  >ULS   I  >F   0  >RNWALLI! 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Field  of  Operations — Morale  of  the  English  Forces — An  En- 
gagement near  Ballina — Episodes  at  the  Capture  of  that  Town. 


AVING  stated  the  situa- 
tion of  the  invading  force, 
let  us  glance  at  the  field  of 
operations  and  the  disposi- 
tions for  defence  made  by 
the  British  military  author- 
ities. At  the  conclusion  of 
the  first  chapter  allusion 
was  made  to  the  rebellious  out- 
breaks in  counties  Wexford  and 
Wicklow  and  the  province  of  Ul- 
ster, during  May  and  June,  1798,  and  their  bloody 
suppression  by  the  troops  of  the  king.  These  dif- 
ferent disturbances  had  resulted  in  the  concentra- 
tion in  various  portions  of  the  unfortunate  country 
of  bodies  of  regulars  and  militia  aggregating  150,000 
men,  under  the  supreme  command  of  Lord  Corn- 
wallis,  the  brave  opponent  of  Washington.  The 
regulars  constituted  the  flower  of  the  English  Army, 


62  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

and  before  landing  in  Ireland  had  seen  service  in 
the  Netherlands,  in  India  and  elsewhere.  The 
militia  or  yeomanry  consisted  of  volunteers  re- 
cruited from  the  body  of  the  Protestant  population 
of  the  country — descendants  of  the  earlier  English 
and  Scotch  invaders  and  settlers.  The  corps  came 
into  existence  in  the  autumn  of  1796,  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  government,  which,  foreseeing  the  evil 
consequences  likely  to  ensue  from  the  prevailing 
abuses,  desired  to  build  up  a  solid  dam  against  the 
inflowing  tide  of  popular  indignation.  In  the  teeth 
of  Catholic  opposition  a  measure  passed  the  Irish 
Parliament  creating  a  force  of  20,000  men,  and  this 
number  swelled  to  36,000  before  the  end  of  the  first 
six  months.  During  the  rebellion  the  yeomanry 
force  exceeded  50,000  men  of  all  arms. 

With  regard  to  the  discipline  and  moral  standing 
of  the  army  as  a  whole,  it  is  sufficient  to  quote  the 
opinion  of  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby,  who,  after  short 
service,  retired  from  its  command  as  involving,  in 
his  opinion,  duties  unworthy  of  a  soldier.  On  Feb- 
ruary 26,  1798,  this  gallant  officer,  in  an  official  re- 
port, declared  that  he  had  found  the  force  "  in  such 
a  state  of  licentiousness  that  must  render  it  formi- 
dable to  every  one  but  the  enemy  !  "  Of  the  yeo- 
manry in  particular  Lord  Cornwallis,  on  July  8th, 
or  less  than  three  weeks  after  his  appointment  to 
the  lord-lieutenancy  of  Ireland,  wrote  the  following 
scathing  denunciation  to  Lord  Portland  : 

"  The  Irish  militia  are  totally  without  discipline  ; 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'gS.  63 

contemptible  before  the  enemy  when  serious  resist- 
ance is  made  to  them,  but  ferocious  and  cruel  in 
the  extreme  when  any  poor  wretches,  either  with 
or  without  arms,  come  within  their  power  ;  in  short, 
murder  appears  to  be  their  favorite  pastime." 
Writing  to  General  Ross,  the  lord-lieutenant  fur- 
thermore declared  that  England  was  engaged  "  in 
a  war  of  plunder  and  massacre  ;  "  and,  after  refer- 
ring to  court-martial  executions,  continued  :  "  But 
all  this  is  trifling  compared  to  the  numberless  mur- 
ders that  are  hourly  committed  by  our  people  with- 
out any  process  of  examination  whatever," 

No  comments  of  the.  historian,  however  unbi- 
assed he  be,  can  carry  the  weight  that  attaches  to 
these  statements  of  the  two  most  ckivalrous  British 
officers  of  the  day. 

The  first  English  commander  to  receive  intelli- 
gence of  the  French  landing  at  Killala  was  Major- 
General  John  Hely  Hutchinson,  stationed  with  a 
large  force  in  the  town  of  Galway.  Without  await- 
ing instructions  from  his  superior,  the  Marquis  of 
Cornwallis,  he  resolved  to  march  northward  with  all 
his  available  troops,  leaving  the  southern  "section  to 
take  care  of  itself  as  best  it  could,  both  against  a 
possible  rebellion  or  another  French  descent.  His 
corps  was  composed  of  the  Kerry  militia,  recruited 
in  Galway,  some  Kilkenny  yeomanry  from  Lough- 
rea,  a  body  of  Longford  militia  from  Gort,  a  detach- 
ment of  so-called  Royal  Roxburgh  Fencible  Dra- 
goons under  the  command  of   Lord   Roden,  several 


64  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

companies  of  a  Highland  regiment  known  as  the 
Fraser  Fencibles,  and  four  six-pounders  and  a  how- 
itzer served  by  men  of  the  Royal  Irish  Artillery. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  this  movement  of 
troops  from  the  south  occurred  a  still  more  for- 
midable one  from  the  west.  Lord  Cornwallis  was 
apprised  of  the  invasion  on  the  24th  of  August. 
With  his  usual  energy  he  took  immediate  measures 
to  meet  the  emergency,  and  as  a  preliminary  step 
despatched  General  Gerard  Lake  to  the  town  of 
Galway  to  conduct  the  operations  commenced  from 
that  point.  Then,  collecting  as  many  troops  as 
could  be  spared  in  the  east,  he  started  in  person 
for  Connaught.  He  arrived  at  Phillipstown  on  the 
26th  with  the  One  Hundredth  Regiment  Royal  In- 
fantry, the  First  and  Second  of  Light  Infantry,  and 
the  flank  companies  of  the  Buck  and  Warwick  mili- 
tia. Two  days  later  the  army  had  already  reached 
the  village  of  Kilbeggan,  forty-four  miles  further 
west — a  fact  that  speaks  well  for  the  endurance  of 
the  troops  and  the  resolution  of  their  commander. 

Having  completed  his  arrangements  for  an  offen- 
sive movement,  Humbert,  on  the  other  hand,  on  the 
morning  of  August  24th  left  Killala  with  the  major 
portion  of  his  army — if,  indeed,  his  handful  of  men 
may  be  dignified  by  this  term — and  struck  for  the 
south.  His  primary  object  was  to  drive  the  enemy 
from  Ballina,  after  which  he  intended  marching  on 
to  Castlebar,  the  county  town  of  Mayo,  where  he 
had  learned  that  a  concentration  of  troops  was  con- 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'q8.  65 

templated.  He  hoped  by  a  march  into  the  interior 
to  enlist  every  Catholic  in  the  cause  of  Irish  liberty, 
and  thus  add  to  his  feeble  strength ;  for,  to  tell  the 
truth,  the  results  of  the  two  first  days'  recruiting 
had  been  a  bitter  disappointment  to  him.  A  goodly 
proportion  of  the  raw  levies,  after  realizing  that 
their  deliverers  were  thoroughly  determined  to  pre- 
vent the  plundering  of  the  Protectants,  had  simply 
dropped  out  of  the  ranks  and  settled  down  at  a  safe 
distance  to  await  developments. 

Before  long  the  vanguard  of  the  French  force 
espied  the  British  troops  posted  in  an  advantageous 
position  a  few  miles  north  of  Ballina.  Major  Kerr 
had  received  considerable  reenforcements,  including 
some  veteran  cavalry,  and  had  boldly  pressed  for- 
ward to  encounter  the  foe.  As  on  the  two  previous 
occasions,  Sarrazin  led  the  attack  of  the  French. 
His  detachment  consisted  of  the  grenadiers — about 
two  hundred  picked  men — and  one  battalion  of  the 
line.  Dismounting  from  his  horse,  he  placed  him- 
self at  the  head  of  the  foremost  column,  and  with  a 
theatrical  gesture,  calculated  to  impress  his  men — 
French  soldiers  have  ever  been  impressed  by  trifles 
— ordered  the  advance  at  double-quick.  "A  la 
baionette "  was  his  battle-cry,  and  it  reechoed  all 
along  the  line  ;  and  the  blue-coated  troopers  sprang 
with  their  wonted  agility  over  the  broken  ground 
and  threw  themselves  against  the  front  ranks  of  the 
enemy  with  an  irresistible  Man.  Still,  Major  Kerr 
was  not  unprepared  for  the  attack,   and  the  rapid 


66  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

but  regular  platoon  firing  of  the  yeomanry  and  cara- 
bineers might  have  proved  an  effectual  check  even 
to  the  veteran  grenadiers  had  not  General-Adjutant 
Fontaine  turned  the  flank  of  the  British  position, 
and  poured  in  his  volleys  almost  on  their  rear.  See- 
ing himself  in  danger  of  being  surrounded,  Major 
Kerr  sounded  the  retreat,  which  became  a  disor- 
derly rout  when  Humbert  appeared  in  person  with 
a  detachment  of  the  third  regiment  of  Chasseurs 
mounted  on  horses  obtained  in  Killala.1 

1  The  author  of  this  sketch  considers  it  incumbent  upon  him  to 
point  out  that  very  serious  discrepancies  exist  in  the  different  ac- 
counts of  these  preliminary  military  operations  following  upon  the 
landing  of  the  French.  Humbert,  for  instance,  in  his  report  to  the 
Director}',  distinctly  refers  to  two  skirmishes  having  occurred  north 
of  Ballina,  one  on  the  6th  Fructidor  (23d  of  August),  and  the  other 
on  the  following  day,  as  narrated  above. 

Fontaine,  on  the  other  hand,  speaks  of  three  different  engage- 
ments as  having  taken  place  between  the  capture  of  Killala  and  the 
final  occupation  of  Ballina.  The  first  fight  was  the  result  of  a  recon- 
noissance  undertaken  by  General  Sarrazin  and  Captain  Huet  and  a 
body  of  grenadiers.  The  enemy  was  "  four  hundred  strong  and  was 
easily  dispersed."  The  second  engagement  occurred  on  the  7th 
Fructidor  (August  24th),  and  its  details  as  given  by  Fontaine  tally 
with  Humbert's  report.  The  third  engagement  took  place  on  the 
morning  of  the  25th  under  the  walls  of  Ballina,  the  British  number- 
ing "  1,300  infantry  and  700  cavalry  !  "  This  last  affair  is  evidently 
a  product  of  the  writer's  vivid  imagination. 

According  to  Bishop  Stock's  account,  there  was  but  one  engage- 
ment, which  he  describes  as  follows:  He  (Humbert)  sent  on  the 
next  morning  (August  23d)  toward  Ballina  a  detachment,  which,  re- 
treating from  some  piquet  guards  or  reconnoitring  parties  of  loyal- 
ists, led  them  to  a  bridge  under  which  lay  concealed  a  sergeant's 
guard  of  French  soldiers.     By  a  volley  from  these,  a  clergyman  who 


Sarrazin,    by  a   happy   inspiration,    stepped  up  to  the    crane,   threw 
his    arms   around    Ihe    inanimate    form,    and    im- 
printed a  kiss  on  the  livid  brow."  —Page  69, 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  6? 

The  town  of  Ballina  presented  a  scene  of  unutter- 
able confusion  when  the  defeated  troops  arrived 
there,  all  begrimed  and  gory.  The  inhabitants  of 
both  persuasions  sought  refuge  in  their  homes,  the 
Catholics  from  fear  of  the  fugitives,  the  Protestants 
from  fear  of  the  French.  One  luckless  individual 
by  the  name  of  Walsh,  who  had  previously  been 
arrested  on  suspicion  of  disloyalty,  but  discharged 
for  lack  of  evidence,  was  caught  in  the  act  of  incit- 
ing his  fellow-citizens  to  rebellion.  Brought  before 
Major  Kerr,  a  commission  was  found  in  his  pockets, 
signed  by  Humbert,  authorizing  him  to  gather  re- 
cruits for  the  Irish  Republic.  Without  a  trial  of 
any  kind  he  was  taken  to  a  crane  in  the  market- 
place and  unceremoniously  strung  up  amid  the 
hooting  of  the  soldateska  and  the  piteous  appeals  of 
his  friends.1  This  was  the  first  of  a  long  series  of 
acts  of  reprisal  committed  by  the  king's  troops  on 
the  unfortunate  rebels  of  Connaught.  It  was  no 
new  pastime  to  the  former.  Their  hands  had 
already  been  deeply  steeped  in  the  blood  of  Irish  v 

had  volunteered  on  the  occasion  and  two  carabineers  were  wounded, 
the  first  mortally.  The  clergyman  was  the  Rev.  George  Fortescue, 
rector  of  Ballina.  The  French,  advancing  to  this  town,  took  posses- 
sion of  it  in  the  night,  the  garrison  retreating  to  Foxford,  leaving 
one  prisoner,  a  yeoman,  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

In  view  of  these  discrepancies,  the  author  has  deemed  it  best  to 
accept  Humbert's  official  report  as  the  correct  version,  and  the  more 
so  as  it  is  corroborated  in  the  main  by  Sir  Richard  Musgrave,  the 
Tory  authority. 

1  Musgrave's  Memoirs,  page  577,  and  Jones'  Narrative,  page  289. 


68  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

insurgents  in  Wexford,  Ulster  and  elsewhere.    They 
had  grown  callous  to  the  dictates  of  humanity. 

The  immediate  consequences  of  the  second  en- 
gagement north  of  Ballina  were  the  evacuation  of 
this  town  by  the  royal  troops,  and  the  accession  to 
the  French  ranks  of  another  small  corps  of  Irish 
recruits.  Humbert's  field  force  thus  amounted 
to  something  over  800  Frenchmen  and  1,000  or 
1,500  native  auxiliaries.  The  balance  of  the  in- 
vading army,  numbering  200  rank  and  file  and  five 
officers,  under  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Charost,  had  been  left  in  Killala  for  different  rea- 
sons. They  were  needed  there  to  guard  a  large 
quantity  of  ammunition  landed  by  the  squadron  the 
day  preceding  its  departure  for  France,1  and  also 
to  assure  the  safety  of  the  Protestant  population, 
daily  threatened  by  the  more  desperate  of  the 
United  Irishmen.  Further,  it  was  feared  that  an 
English  force  from  Sligo  might  attempt  a  landing 
at  Killala  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  off  Humbert's 
communications,  unless  the  town  were  adequately 
protected  by  a  disciplined  body  of  troops.  Hum- 
bert did  not  resume  his  march  until  the  25th.  At 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  moved  toward  the 
village  of  Rappa,2  and  remained  there  until  two  in 
the  morning,  the  delay  being  caused  principally  by 

1  Savary,  in  his  letter  to  the  Minister  of  Marine  a  month  later, 
declared  his  sudden  departure  from  Killala  to  have  been  caused  by  a 
fear  of  impending  tempestuous  weather. 

2  Humbert's  Official  Reports  to  the  Directory,  dated  from  Castlebar. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'gS.  69 

the  difficulties  in  dealing  with  his  new  allies,  who, 
as  previously  stated,  lacked  every  kind  of  military 
training. 

Sarrazin  in  the  mean  time  had  followed  close 
upon  the  heels  of  the  retreating  British.  On  the 
afternoon  of  the  skirmish  with  Kerr,  with  drawn 
sabre,  at  the  head  of  his  grenadiers  and  chasseurs, 
he  entered  the  deserted  streets  of  Ballina.  As  they 
neared  the  market  square  the  outlines  of  a  sus- 
pended figure  became  discernible  against  the  white 
background  of  a  whitewashed  building.  It  was  the 
body  of  the  unfortunate  Walsh.  When  the  entire 
column  came  up  and  the  identity  of  the  dead  man 
was  established,  Sarrazin,  by  a  happy  inspiration, 
stepped  up  to  the  crane,  threw  his  arms  around  the 
inanimate  form,  and  imprinted  a  kiss  on  the  livid 
brow.  "  Voila,  Messieurs"  he  cried,  turning  to  the 
Irish  auxiliaries,  "  thus  do  we  honor  the  martyrs  of 
your  sacred  cause."  Major  O'Keon  translated  the 
words  into  the  native  vernacular,  and  the  assem- 
blage, now  swelled  by  two-thirds  of  the  town's 
inhabitants,  joined  in  a  deafening  shout  of  applause. 
Each  company,  in  passing  the  swaying  body,  dipped 
its  colors  and  presented  arms,  and,  each  in  his  turn, 
the  different  commanders  stepped  up  to  the  corpse 
and  gave  it  the  embrace  of  "  sympathetic  civism." 
Had  the  entire  comedy  been  prearranged  instead 
of  being  a  clever  impromptu,  it  could  not  have 
passed  off  more  propitiously,  or  made  so  deep  an 
impression  on  the  spectators. 


70  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

The  experiences  of  the  last  few  days  had  taught 
the  French  that  the  deeply  rooted  religious  senti- 
ments of  the  native  Irish  must  be  respected,  and 
with  that  faculty  for  adapting  themselves  to  circum- 
stances which  seems  to  be  inherent  in  the  Gaul,  the 
invaders  decided  to  turn  these  very  sentiments  to 
the  best  possible  account.  Accordingly,  after  in- 
dulging in  the  little  scene  just  described,  Sarrazin 
ordered  Walsh's  body  to  be  cut  down  and  carried  to 
the  nearest  Romish  chapel.  Here  it  was  attired  in 
a  French  military  suit,  placed  in  a  handsome  coffin 
and  laid  out  in  state,  surrounded  by  burning  tapers 
and  mourners  with  crucifixes  and  censers.  And  all 
this  to  the  tune  of  the  "  Marseillaise "  and  "  Ca 
Ira,"  and  the  sacriligious  jests — fortunately  not  un- 
derstood by  those  at  whom  they  were  directed — of 
the  French  Republican  soldiery ! 

The  French  did  not  stop  here  in  their  efforts  to 
conciliate  the  Catholic  element.  They  were  playing 
a  desperate  game,  and  appreciating  that  everything 
was  at  stake,  they  hesitated  at  no  measure,  short  of 
compliance  with  the  demanded  persecution  of  the 
Protestants,  that  would  insure  the  most  efficient  aid 
from  that  source.  Acting  under  instructions  from 
the  commander-in-chief,  O'Keon  mounted  a  ros- 
trum in  the  market-place  of  Ballina  and  told  the 
assembled  throng  the  following  interesting  story  in 
Irish  :  He  dreamt  one  night,  he  said,  that  the  Holy 
Mother  of  God  visited  his  bedside  and  poured  into 
his    ear    the  story  of    Ireland's    suffering  and   woe. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'g8.  71 

This  done,  she  called  upon  him  to  arise,  return 
home,  and  battle  in  the  cause  of  Irish  freedom. 
The  speaker  declared  that  he  at  first  regarded  the 
apparition  as  an  idle  dream,  unworthy  of  serious 
consideration  ;  but  a  few  nights  later  the  visit  was 
repeated.  This  time  she  bemoaned  in  still  more 
melancholic  accents  the  condition  of  his  mother 
country,  and  urged  him  once  more  to  return  home. 
Still  taking  no  notice  of  the  warning,  the  speaker 
received  a  third  visit,  his  heavenly  guest  making 
herself  felt,  as  well  as  heard,  by  administering  a 
sharp  box  on  his  ear.  Convinced  by  this  mani- 
festation that  the  Madonna's  order  was  seriously 
meant,  O'Keon  repaired  to  the  French  Directory 
and  persuaded  them  to  undertake  this  expedition  ! 
He  assured  his  hearers  that  the  success  of  the 
enterprise  must  be  a  foregone  conclusion,  as  the 
Holy  Mother  had  herself  advised  it  and  would 
never  abandon  her  faithful  followers.1  O'Keon's 
harangue  was  received  with  every  demonstration 
of  delight  by  the  impressionable  peasantry,  not  one 
of  whom  appeared  to  doubt  a  single  word  of  it. 

Humbert  entered  Ballina  early  on  Sunday,  the 
26th,  with  the  main  body,  but  his  stay  there  was 
very  short.  Peasants  came  in  during  the  morning 
with  the  information  that  the  enemy's  forces  at 
Castlebar  were  hourly  increasing.  General  Hutch- 
inson had  arrived  there,  they  said,  with  his  Galway 
division,  and  reinforcements  were   constantly  join- 

1  Musgrave's  Memoirs,  page  583. 


?2  FRENCH  INVASION  OF  IRELAND. 

ing  him.1  This  was,  therefore,  no  time  for  dilly- 
dallying. After  a  few  hours'  rest  the  French  gen- 
eral, with  his  entire  corps,  moved  out  of  Ballina 
toward  the  capital  of  Mayo.  It  was  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  and  threatening  clouds  were  gath- 
ering on  the  horizon.  The  heavens,  the  landscape, 
and  the  prospects  of  the  marching  hundreds  seemed 
equally  gloomy. 

1  These  reinforcements  comprised  the  troops  mentioned  by  Corn- 
wallis  in  his  letter  of  August  25th  to  the  Duke  of  Portland.  ' '  Sev- 
eral regiments,"  he  wrote,  "  were  moving  from  the  southeast  part  of 
the  island  toward  Connaught  before  we  heard  of  the  landing  of  the 
French." 


0  an 
-2  I 


CHAPTER   V. 

The  Theatre  of  Operations — Weary  March  of  the  French  and  Irish 
—Scenes    in    Castlebar— The     Battle— Panic     and     Flight    of    the 
British. 


UMBERTS  theatre  of  op- 
erations belonged  to  one  of 
the  most  picturesque  por- 
tions of  Ireland.  A  remote 
corner  of  the  country,  little 
visited  by  outsiders,  its  rug- 
ged aspect  had  remained 
unchanged  for  centuries. 
Its  physical  formation  was  most  va- 
R*®  ried    in    nature:    rocky   heights' and 

precipitous  cliffs,  covered  with  brush  and  heather, 
alternating  with  verdant  plains,  upon  which  browsed 
well-fed  cattle.  The  banks  of  the  River  Moy, 
which  empties  its  waters  into  the  Bay  of  Killala, 
had  been  the  scene  of  many  an  episode  in  early 
Irish  history,  and  traces  of  a  greater  past  were  vis- 
ible on  all  sides.  The  romantic  ruins  of  Rosskerk, 
Belleck  and  Moyne  abbeys— the  theme  of  many 
a  poet's  song — lying  between  Killala  and   Ballina, 


74  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

attested  to  the  artistic  and  architectural  glories  of 
a  generation  unfettered  by  the  chains  of  the  con- 
queror. In  short,  nature  and  history  had  combined 
to  add  to  the  poetry  impregnating  the  very  air  of 
this  most  thoroughly  Celtic  section  of  the  Green 
Isle. 

There  are  two  roads  leading  from  Ballina  to  Cas- 
tlebar.  One  almost  skirts  the  River  Moy  to  the 
town  of  Foxford,  after  which  it  turns  to  the  south- 
west. This  was  the  usual  route  chosen  by  travel- 
lers. The  other  one  branches  from  Ballina  in  a 
westerly  direction,  winding  around  Lough  Conn,  a 
lake  noted  for  the  majestic  beauty  of  its  rocky 
banks.  At  the  town  of  Crossmalina  the  road  turns 
abruptly  southward  and  crosses  the  mountains  of 
Fanogue.  It  passes  under  the  shadow  of  the  great 
Nephin,  an  imposing  mountain  over  2,000  feet  high, 
and  at  a  point  called  Barnageehy  becomes  a  narrow 
defile  that,  properly  defended,  could  defy  the  as- 
saults of  another  Xerxes.  About  fifteen  miles  in  a 
direct  line  south  of  Crossmalina  lies  Castlebar,  in  a 
plain  near  a  large  lough.  The  capital  of  the  county, 
it  is  the  point  of  convergence  of  numerous  roads 
and  highways.  A  small  river  flows  by  the  town, 
and  is  crossed  by  a  stone  bridge  of  ancient  con- 
struction. The  name  of  Castlebar  is  derived  from 
a  fortress  of  the  De  Burgh  family,  long  since  a  ruin. 
Sir  Henry  Bingham  held  the  castle  for  Parliament 
in  the  old  Cromwellian  days,  and,  besieged  by  Lord 
Mayo  in  1641,  he  surrendered  it  on  favorable  condi- 


OF  IRELAND  IN  *q8.  7$ 

tions.  These,  however,  were  treacherously  violated, 
and  he  and  the  entire  garrison  were  put  to  the 
sword.  Mayo's  treachery  was  avenged  twelve 
years  later  on  his  son,  Sir  Theodore  Burke,  who 
suffered  death  at  the  headsman's  hands.  At  the 
time  of  our  narrative  Castlebar  was  a  fairly  prosper- 
ous city  of  about  3,000  inhabitants,  exclusive  of 
the  military.  It  possessed  a  strong  stone  jail,  a 
court-house,  and  the  usual  county  offices,  situated 
in  a  square  in  the  centre  of  the  town.  Its  long 
main  thoroughfare  was  intersected  by  smaller  and 
narrower  ones,  eminently  adapted  to  street  war- 
fare. 

The  English  army  from  Galway,  under  Major- 
Generals  Hutchinson  and  Trench,  reached  Castlebar 
late  at  night  on  the  24th  of  August.  At  the  same 
time  Brigadier-General  Robert  Taylor,  commandant 
of  the  garrison  of  Sligo,  had  approached  from  the 
northeast  with  a  considerable  force.  When  he 
entered  Foxford  he  found  written  orders  from 
Hutchinson  directing  him  to  remain  there  and 
await  the  French,  who  were  expected  to  select 
that  route  in  preference  to  the  one  by  Barnageehy. 
In  spite  of  Hutchinson's  executive  ability  and  his 
popularity  among  his  men,  so  great  had  become  the 
demoralization  of  the  army  that  preparations  for 
encountering  the  invaders  were  attended  with  the 
greatest  difficulty.  Fights  and  broils  between  the 
regulars  and  the  militia  were  of  hourly  occurrence, 
and   even  indulgence  in  intoxicating  liquors  seems 


y6  THE   FRENCH  INVASION' 

to  have  been  not  infrequent.  The  disgraceful 
scenes  reached  their  climax  on  Sunday  night,  the 
26th,  after  the  main  body  of  the  Longford  militia 
had  entered  town.  The  men  were  bivouacked  on 
the  green,  eating  bread  and  cheese,  when  a  shot, 
discharged  from  a  window  close  by,  fell  in  their 
midst.  Immediately  a  stupendous  uproar  ensued. 
"  In  the  dark  of  the  night,"  wrote  an  eye-witness, 
"  four  thousand  enraged  soldiers  in  the  town ! 
A  noise  arose — the  clamor  of  irritated  passions. 
Arms  clashed  against  each  other,  and  glass  flew 
from  windows,  whilst  the  enraged  men  called  for 
vengeance  on  the  culprit.  The  general  shouted  for 
the  officer  commanding  (Captain  Chambers)  to 
stand  in  the  street  until  the  affair  should  be  over. 
The  fellow  who  fired  the  shot  fled  off  when  he 
thought  he  had  kindled  a  flame  which  would 
destroy  the  town.  I  am  told  if  there  had  not 
been  instant  peace  the  general  would  have  caused 
the  cannon  to  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  street 
and  swept  it  with  grapeshot ;  but  glory  to  the 
Prince  of  Peace!  he  gave  us  a  silent  street  in  ten 
minutes."  : 

The  writer  of  the  above  was  an  old  inhabitant  of 
Castlebar,  who,  being  thoroughly  well  acquainted 
with  the  surrounding  country,  drew  out  a  detailed 
map  thereof  on  the  night  of  the  26th,  and  sent  it  to 
General  Hutchinson.  His  guest  on  this  occasion 
was  Captain  Chambers,  one  of  the   few  real   heroes 

1  Jones'   Narrative,  page  290. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  %98.  77 

of  the  royal  army.  As  an  illustration  of  the  piet- 
istic  spirit  prevailing  among  Protestants  in  those 
days,  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  quote  the  fol- 
lowing anecdote  from  the  same  authority  : 

"  A  little  before  day  (August  27),"  he  says,  "  my 
wife  told  me  :  '  I  will  see  the  battle  in  the  street, 
having  in  a  dream  beheld  flags — a  green,  and 
another  of  a  different  color.'  We  then  agreed  to 
consult  the  Bible.  I  first  opened  for  our  army, 
2  Kings,  vii.  7 :  '  Wherefore  they  arose  and  fled  in 
the  twilight,  and  left  their  tents,  and  their  houses, 
even  the  camp  as  it  was,  and  fled  for  their  life.' 
We  next  opened  for  our  country,  Jer.  v.  15  :  ;  Lo,  I 
will  bring  a  nation  upon  you  from  afar,  O  house  of 
Israel,  saith  the  Lord  ;  it  is  a  mighty  nation,  it  is  an 
ancient  nation,  a  nation  whose  language  thou  know- 
est  not,  neither  understandest  what  they  say.'  I 
next  opened  for  our  king,  Psalms,  lxi.  7  :  '  He  shall 
abide  before  God  forever :  O  prepare  mercy  and 
truth  which  may  preserve  him.'  I  lastly  opened 
for  my  wife  and  myself,  John,  xiii.  7  :  '  Jesus 
answered  and  said  unto  him  :  '  What  I  do  thou 
knovvest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter.' 
From  all  these  I  concluded  that  we  should  lose  that 
battle,  but  that  the  king  and  constitution  would 
still  be  upheld." 

Unfortunately  for  the  arms  of  England,  General 
Hutchinson  was  not  destined  to  lead  the  king's 
troops  in  the  coming  struggle.  On  Saturday  night, 
between  ten  and  eleven   o'clock,  General   Lake,  the 


78  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

ruthless  exterminator  of  thousands  of  patriots  in 
the  county  of  Wexford,  rode  into  Castlebar  with 
his  staff  and  took  command  of  the  army.  Almost 
from  the  moment  of  his  arrival  disagreements 
arose  between  him  and  Hutchinson.1  The  latter, 
though  suffering  from  a  severe  attack  of  fever,  had 
taken  pains  to  study  the  topography  of  the  sur- 
roundings, and  had  inspected  every  inch  of  ground 
within  a  radius  of  many  miles,  the  result  being  a 
very  efficient  and  comprehensive  plan  of  opera- 
tions, which,  if  carried  out,  say  the  apologists  of 
the  English,  would  have  effectually  disposed  of 
Humbert  and  his  weak  force.  Lake,  however,  be- 
longed to  that  class  of  Englishmen,  unfortunately 
very  large,  who  entertain  a  supreme  contempt  for 
foreigners  of  every  description,  among  others  for 
the  French.  He  had  been  brought  up  from  boy- 
hood to  believe  that  one  English  soldier  was  a 
match  for  at  least  two  Frenchmen,  three  Spaniards, 
four  Dutchmen,  and  an  inconceivable  number  of 
savages — a  pleasant  delusion  that  even  his  partici- 
pation in  the  inglorious  campaigns  in  the  Nether- 
lands against  revolutionary  France  does  not  seem 
to  have  materially  affected.  He  was  a  tried  soldier, 
however,  having  entered  the  army  at  the  age  of 
fourteen,  and  had  won  laurels  during  the  Seven 
Years'  War  in  Germany,  and  under  Cornwallis  in 
America.  Martinet  and  Tory,  he  detested  all  rebels 
from  the  bottom  of  his  heart.     Hence  his  selection 

1  Reverend  J.  Gordon's  History  of  the  Rebellion. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  yg8.  79 

by  the  British  Ministry  to  succeed  the  mild  and  hu- 
mane Abercromby.  In  suppressing  the  uprising  in 
Wexford,  he  had  not  failed  to  give  vent  to  his  pas- 
sionate hatred  of  revolution  in  any  form,  as  the 
thousands  of  desolated  homes  and  orphaned  fami- 
lies fully  attested. 

When  news  arrived  at  the  British  headquarters  at 
Castlebar  that  Humbert's  army,  on  the  march  from 
Ballina,  exclusive  of  the  Irish  corps,  fell  short  of 
eight  hundred  regulars,  Lake  thrust  aside  Hutchin- 
son's maps  and  plans  with  a  gesture  of  disdain. 
Lord  Jocelin's  "  Fox  Hunters,"  he  declared,  would 
suffice  to  account  for  so  insignificant  a  foe,  even  if 
Taylor  failed  to  hold  his  own  at  Foxford.  The 
"  Fox  Hunters "  were  a  body  of  light  horse  at- 
tached to  Lake's  cavalry,  who  had  distinguished 
themselves  at  the  Curragh  of  Kildare,  a  short  time 
before,  by  treacherously  butchering  in  cold  blood  a 
division  of  rebel  prisoners.  The  unfortunates  had 
surrendered  on  the  express  stipulation  that  their 
lives  should  be  spared. 

During  all  this  time  General  Humbert's  army  was 
slowly  but  steadily  plodding  on  its  way  to  Castle- 
bar. The  French  general  had  been  informed  by 
one  Father  Conroy,  the  parish  priest  of  Adergool, 
of  the  Barnageehy  route,  and  had  resolved  to  follow 
it  in  preference  to  the  one  by  Foxford.  But  in 
order  to  deceive  the  British  he  first  marched  his 
army  some  distance  down  the  Foxford  road,  and 
then  at  nightfall  suddenly  turned  to  his  right   and 


SO  THE   FRENCH   INVASION 

proceeded  toward  Crossmalina.  Father  Conroy 
rendered  another  important  service  to  Humbert. 
Learning  that  a  man  named  William  Burke  had 
been  despatched  to  the  British  commander  with 
information  as  to  the  route  of  the  French,  he  over- 
took the  messenger  and  made  him  retrace  his  steps 
and  take  the  United  Irishmen's  oath.  Both  Conroy 
and  Burke  were  afterward  hanged  at  Castlebar  by 
sentence  of  an  English  court-martial. 

Many  were  the  hardships  of  the  army  during  its 
tramp  over  the  Fanogue  Mountains.  Heavy  rains 
had  made  the  roads  almost  impassable,  and  when 
the  men  were  not  stumbling  over  rocks  or  into 
crevices  they  found  themselves  up  to  their  knees 
in  incipient  bogs.  The  two  curricle  guns  and  the 
ammunition  wagons,  drawn  by  farm  horses,  proved 
a  serious  obstacle  to  the  advance,  for  they  were 
constantly  sticking  in  the  mud.  In  fact,  the  poor 
beasts  soon  became  entirely  unserviceable,  and  had 
to  be  replaced  by  the  Irish  peasantry,  who  per- 
formed the  tedious  task  with  cheerfulness.  The 
carriage  of  one  of  the  guns  broke  down,  and  its 
repairing  delayed  the  army  a  couple  of  hours.  Yet 
no  signs  of  faltering  were  visible  on  the  counte- 
nances of  the  weary  but  determined  men.  The 
French  had  surmounted  greater  difficulties  than 
these  in  their  former  campaigns,  and  had  never 
known  defeat.  They  hummed  snatches  of  patriotic 
songs  to  keep  up  their  spirits,  and  exchanged  com- 
pliments with  the  Irish  contingent,  some  of  whom 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'g8.  ol 

aroused  no  little  good-natured  mirth  by  their  awk- 
ward movements  and  unsuccessful  attempts  to 
assume  a  martial  bearing.  Not  an  incident  oc- 
curred during  the  whole  march  to  ruffle  the  har- 
monious relations  of  the  allies,  so  different  in  senti- 
ments and  temperament. 

With  the  dawn  of  day  the  column  emerged  from 
the  pass  of  Barnageehy  and  descended  into  the  vale 
beyond.  A  Protestant  yeoman,  who  was  visiting 
his  farm  in  the  vicinity,  saw  a  line  of  blue  coats  in 
the  distance,  and  dismayed  beyond  measure,  sped  to 
Castlebar  with  the  intelligence.  His  story  obtained 
no  credence,  so  convinced  were  the  British  com- 
manders that  Humbert  had  chosen  the  Foxford 
route ;  but  to  make  entirely  sure,  General  Trench 
set  out  in  person  to  reconnoitre,  attended  by  a  few 
dragoons.  The  party  rode  three  miles  in  a  north- 
erly direction,  when  they  were  fired  upon  by  a 
French  picket.  There  was  no  doubt  about  it  now. 
The  French  were  coming,  and  at  a  rapid  pace,  too ! 
The  horsemen  whipped  up  their  steeds  and  gal- 
loped back  to  Castlebar,  with  feelings  akin  to  those 
experienced  by  the  yeoman. 

In  a  few  moments  after  their  arrival  the  stillness 
of  the  morn  was  broken  by  the  sound  of  alarm 
bells,  the  bugle's  blast,  and  the  shouts  and  vocifera- 
tions of  the  excited  soldiery.  Realizing  the  gravity 
of  the  situation  and  his  own  helplessness,  General 
Lake  gave  Hutchinson  carte  blanche  to  arrange  the 
troops  in  line  of  battle.     Hutchinson  at  once  sent 


82  THE    FRENCH  INVASION 

orderlies  to  the  various  division  commanders  with 
instructions  to  march  to  an  elevation  at  the  north- 
east extremity  of  the  town,  known  as  Mount  Bur- 
ren,  which  had  been  selected  the  day  before  as  an 
alarm  post.  A  good  deal  of  confusion  resulted 
from  the  unexpectedness  of  the  alarm,  but  within 
an  hour  some  order  was  restored,  and  when  the  sun 
burst  out  from  over  the  hillocks  on  the  east  the 
British  army,  about  6,000  strong,  with  18  guns,  was 
drawn  up  in  an  imposing  battle  array,  prepared  to 
receive  the  enemy. 

It  is  well  to  state  that  this  calculation  as  to  the 
strength  of  the  English  at  Castlebar  is  based  on  the 
most  reliable  authority.  It  is  true  that  General 
Hutchinson,  in  an  official  statement  submitted  to 
Lord  Cornwallis  a  month  later,1  placed  the  num- 
bers of  the  loyalists  at  "  1,600,  or  1,700  cavalry  and 
infantry,  10  pieces  of  cannon  and  one  howitzer," 
and  his  testimony  is  evidently  accepted  as  unim- 
peachable by  Mr.  Froude  and  the  few  other  British 
historians  who  have  deigned  to  notice  the  affair  of 
August  27th,  1798.  But  if  any  credence  can  be 
placed  in  Sir  Richard  Musgrave's  account  of  the 
battle — and  it  is  certainly  the  most  detailed  in  ex- 
istence— Hutchinson's  estimate  falls  very  far  short 
of  the  truth.  Musgrave,  as  a  loyalist,  carefully 
avoids  mentioning  figures  altogether ;  but  as  he 
gives  a  list  of  the  various  infantry  regiments  pres- 

1  This  statement  is  included  in  the  Correspondence  of  the  Marquis 
of  Cornwallis. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'q8.  83 

ent  on  the  field,  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  approx- 
imate their  numerical  strength,  which  by  the  low- 
est calculation  must  have  aggregated  5,000  men. 
Francis  Plowden,  another  writer  of  the  day,  also  a 
loyalist,  but  one  of  a  far  different  calibre  to  Mus- 
grave  in  breadth  of  mind,  declares  Lake's  army  to 
have  "  fallen  little  short  of  6,000  men,"  including 
the  cavalry,  an  assertion  supported  by  many  actors 
in  the  short  and  bloody  drama.1 

"  The  sudden  progress  of  such  a  handful  of  men 
into  the  very  centre  of  the  island,"  wrote  a  yeoman 
in  Lake's  army  to  his  brother  in  Castlebar,  "  was,  I 
think,  a  clear  comment  on  the  words  of  Solomon, 
that  '  the  race  is  not  to  the  swift  nor  the  battle  to 
the  strong.'  Thus  what  6,000  men  could  not  do  at 
Castlebar  five  flank  companies  and  a  few  cavalry 
effected  at  Ballinamuck."  2  Equally  reliable  testi- 
mony in  the  same  direction  is  furnished  by  Bishop 
Stock,  who  says  :  "  The  enemy's  main  body  had 
hardly  marched  from  Killala  when  a  flag  of  truce 
arrived  from  Castlebar,  carried  by  Captain  Grey,  of 
the  Carabineers.     It  came  under  the  pretence  of  in- 

1  Here  is  what  Plowden  incidentally  remarks  :  "  It  must  ever  re- 
main an  humiliating  reflection  upon  the  lustre  and  power  of  the 
British  arms  that  so  pitiful  a  detachment  as  that  of  1,100  French  in- 
fantry should,  in  a  kingdom  in  which  there  was  an  armed  force  of 
above  150,000  men,  have  not  only  put  to  rout  a  select  army  of  6,000 
men  prepared  to  receive  the  invaders,  but  also  provided  themselves 
with  ordnance  and  ammunition  from  our  stores,  taken  several  of  our 
towns,"  etc. 

*  Jones'  Narrative,  page  326. 


84  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

quiry  after  an  officer  who  was  wounded  and  made 
prisoner  at  Ballina,  but  the  object  of  it  was  to  learn 
the  force  of  the  enemy.  As  soon  as  this  was 
known,  Captain  Grey  privately  desired  us  not  to  be 
uneasy,  for  a  force  equal  to  three  times  their  num- 
ber was  waiting  at  Castlebar  to  give  a  good  account 
of  them."  Captain  (or  lieutenant)  Grey  returned  to 
Castlebar  on  Saturday,1  the  25th — that  is,  long  be- 
fore the  last  reenforcement  reached  that  town. 

To  reduce  the  matter  to  a  few  words,  Humbert's 
army  of  800  men — the  Irish  contingent  for  reasons 
shortly  to  be  stated  need  not  be  included — found 
itself  opposed  to  a  force  almost  eight  times  its 
superior  in  size. 

That  General  Hutchinson,  whose  conduct  through- 
out the  engagement  was  beyond  all  praise,  should 
have  rendered  himself  guilty  of  wilful  misrepre- 
sentation, is  only  excusable  on  the  ground  perhaps 
that  he  considered  himself  justified  as  an  officer  of 
his  Majesty  in  shielding  the  reputation  of  the  British 
arms.  No  such  duty  devolves  on  the  British  his- 
torian, who  in  this  case,  however,  has  only  followed 
his  time-honored  custom  of  pandering  to  the  inor- 
dinate national  vanity  of  his  countrymen.  The 
average  Englishman  goes  through  life  with  an 
exalted  conviction  of  Britannia's  superiority  over 
all  other  nations.  Not  content  with  her  unques- 
tioned supremacy  on  the  sea  and  in  the  world  of 
commerce,  he    would   wish    her  military   record   to 

1  General  Hutchinson's  statement,  Sept.  21,  1798. 


i£* 


^fH&V'* 


s^ 


GENERAL  JOHN  HELY  HUTCHINSON. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'g8.  85 

dazzle  the  eyes  of  all  creation.  So  firm  a  hold  has 
this  hobby  gained  upon  him  that  paltry  skirmishes 
figure  in  English  history  as  important  battles,  and 
mediocre  captains  are  magnified  into  Caesars  and 
Alexanders.  Maida '  is  mentioned  in  the  same 
breath  with  Austerlitz,  and  Wellington,  who  never 
risked  an  engagement  save  when  the  chances  were 
overwhelmingly  in  his  favor,  is  ranked  above  the 
great  Napoleon.  The  same  tone  of  empty  and 
arrogant  boasting  pervades  alike  the  pages  of  most 
English  historical  works  and  the  utterances  of  the 
large  class  of  British  "Jingoes."  But  this  vanity 
were  a  bagatelle  if  the  truth  were  not  constantly 
sacrificed  on  its  altar.  Chauvinism  and  mendacity 
flourish  in  the  same  soil ! 

The  British  at  Castlebar  were  drawn  up  in  three 
lines  running  from  east  to  west  across  the  crest  of 
the  hill.  They  commanded  a  slight  elevation  in 
front,  over  which  any  attacking  force  from  the 
north  must  necessarily  pass.  The  first  line  consisted 
of  a  portion  of  the  artillery,  including  two  curricle 
guns  served  by  men  of  the  Royal  Irish  Artillery 
under  Captain  Shortall,  an  experienced  officer,  the 
Kilkenny  Militia,  a  portion  of  the  6th  Regiment 
of  Foot  under  Major  McBean,  and  a  detachment  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales'  Fencibles.  Captain  Shortall 
himself  took  post  with  the  two  curricle  guns  in  front 
of  the  line,  the  Kilkenny  regiment  being  stationed 

'An  insignificant  and  indecisive  skirmish  fought  July  4,  1806,  in 
Calabria.     It  figures  as  a  great  victory  in  English  history. 


$6  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

at  his  right  and  the  Kilkenny  artillery  to  his  left, 
separated  by  a  road,  but  parallel  to  him.  The  sec- 
ond line  was  composed  of  what  might  be  called  the 
flower  of  the  army,  the  Fraser  Fencibles — Scotch 
Highlanders  in  their  national  tartans,  plaids,  and 
feathers,  who  had  fought  bravely  throughout  the 
rebellion  without  dimming  the  lustre  of  their  arms 
by  acts  of  wanton  cruelty.  The  Erasers  were  sup- 
ported by  a  corps  of  Galway  militiamen,  both  bod- 
ies having  been  drawn  up  in  irregular  lines  so  as  to 
fully  occupy  the  summits  of  the  British  position. 
In  a  valley  on  the  left  of  the  elevation  held  by  the 
Kilkenny  troops  stood  several  companies  of  Long- 
ford yeomanry. 

However,  the  strength  of  Lake's  army  lay  prin- 
cipally in  its  cavalry,  which  comprised  some  of 
the  best  troops  in  the  king's  service.  There 
was  "  Lord  Jocelin's  Light  Horse,"  already  men- 
tioned for  their  treacherous  cruelty  in  Kildare ; 
there  was  the  6th  Carabineers;  the  23d  Light  Dra- 
goons ;  Lord  Roden's  Roxborough  Fencible  Cav- 
alry, and  several  squadrons  of  yeomanry  horse.1 
The  bulk  of  this  imposing  body  of  mounted  men 
occupied  a  large  space  in  the  rear  of  the  first  line, 
Lake's  apparent  intention  being  to  throw  them 
upon  the  foe  as  soon  as  the  artillery  and  musketry 
fire  had  sown  confusion  in  his  ranks.  Among 
the  officers  commanding  the  king's  forces  were 
a    number  of    English    and   Anglo-Irish    noblemen 

1  C.  H.  Teeling's  Personal  Narrative,  p.  216. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  87 

who  had  promised  themselves  good  sport  shoot- 
ing down  the  Sans-culottes  and  hanging  the  "  crop- 
pies." x  It  never  occurred  to  them  that,  with  a 
tremendous  numerical  superiority  in  favor  of  the 
British,  the  choice  of  position,  and  an  enemy  ex- 
hausted by  fifteen  hours'  steady  marching,  any 
other  result  could  be  possible ! 

When,  toward  eight  o'clock,  General  Humbert 
and  his  staff  arrived  within  sight  of  the  British  lines 
and  beheld  the  heights  scarlet  with  the  uniforms  of 
the  regulars  and  militia,  they  concluded  within  them- 
selves that  the  game  was  lost  in  advance.  At  a 
glance  they  recognized  the  fact  that  the  one  possi- 
bility they  had  counted  on,  viz.,  a  surprise  of  the 
enemy,  was  out  of  the  question.  Nothing  now  re- 
mained to  counterbalance  his  weight  of  numbers 
and  his  almost  unassailable  front.  Humbert  decided 
that  if  he  were  destined  to  succumb  he  would  at 
least  maintain  the  honor  of  his  flag.  He  accord- 
ingly took  immediate  measures  to  attack  the  British 
position.  He  first  formed  a  column  from  the  ranks 
of  the  Irish  insurgents,  and  sent  them  ahead  to  drive 
in  the  English  outposts  and  commence  the  assault 
on  the  foremost  line  of  artillery.  Close  behind  the 
Irish  followed  General  Sarrazin  with  the  Grenadiers. 
Short  work  was  made  of  the  outposts,  and  elated 
by  their  easy  success  the  simple-minded  peasants, 

1,4  Croppy"  was  a  term  of  opprobrium  applied  by  the  king's 
troops  to  the  rebels.  It  originated  from  the  fact  that  the  latter  wore 
their  hair  cropped  close  to  their  heads. 


88  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

many  of  them  clad  in  the  French  uniform,  made  a 
bold  dash  at  the  enemy's  guns.  Not  a  sound  issued 
from  these  until  the  assailants  were  within  fifty 
yards.  Then  Captain  Shortall  gave  the  signal,  the 
gunners  applied  their  fuses,  and  the  head  of  the 
attacking  column  was  literally  split  in  twain,  the 
messengers  of  destruction  leaving  a  furrow  thickly 
strewn  with  dead  and  dying.  The  survivors — most 
of  whom  in  their  unfrequented  regions  had  never, 
perhaps,  until  that  day  heard  the  report  of  a  musket, 
much  less  witnessed  the  effects  of  artillery  fire — 
were  overwhelmed  with  terror.  They  turned  upon 
their  heels  and  sped  down  the  mountain  side  in 
wild  confusion.  They  took  no  further  share  in  the 
battle  of  Castlebar. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  French  to  face 
Shortall's  fire.  Sarrazin's  Grenadiers,  undisturbed 
by  the  precipitate  flight  of  their  allies,  marched 
steadily  up  the  slope  with  fixed  bayonets,  and 
approached  the  British  centre.  At  the  same  time  a 
battalion  of  the  line  moved  toward  the  British  left. 
The  French  were  aided  in  their  movements  by  the 
peculiar  formation  of  the  ground,  which,  intersected 
by  stone  walls  and  high  hedges,  afforded  them 
excellent  shelter  against  the  small-arms'  fire  of  the 
enemy.  Sarrazin's  first  attack,  however,  proved  a 
failure.  The  English  artillery,  superbly  served, 
once  more  performed  its  deadly  office.  One  of 
Shortall's  shots  cut  clean  through  the  infantry 
battalion,  who,  seeing  themselves  taken  at  a  disad- 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'g8.  89 

vantage,  ran  to  the  cover  of  a  small  house  near  by. 
The  Grenadiers  then  wheeled  half  way,  and  under  a 
galling  musketry  and  artillery  fire  rushed  to  the 
relief  of  their  brethren.  After  this  the  attacking 
force  retreated  down  the  slope,  leaving  many  dead 
and  wounded.  A  very  brief  period  intervened 
before  the  next  attack.  The  French  this  time 
attempted  to  neutralize  the  effects  of  the  enemy's 
marksmanship  by  driving  some  cattle  in  front  of 
them,  but  such  of  the  poor  brutes  as  were  not 
shot  down  at  the  first  discharge  scampered,  terror- 
stricken,  into  the  very  ranks  they  were  intended  to 
screen,  nearly  causing  irremediable  disorder. 

So  far  the  tide  of  fortune  had  been  against  the 
assailants,  yet  from  this  very  circumstance  there 
gleamed  for  Humbert  a  ray  of  hope.  The  inertness 
of  the  British,  and  their  neglect  to  follow  up  their 
advantages,  satisfied  him  that  they  were  badly  led. 
The  moment  had  therefore  arrived  to  hazard  a  bold 
stroke — no  less  than  a  general  attack  along  the 
whole  length  of  the  enemy's  line  !  To  do  this  it 
became  necessary  to  extend  the  French  front  until 
it  should  overlap  his  left  wing.  At  the  word  of 
command  the  sturdy  little  Frenchmen  deployed 
from  the  centre  with  the  rapidity  and  precision  of  a 
dress-parade,  and  when  they  commenced  their  next 
advance  up  the  steep  incline  the  British  looked 
down  in  amazement  on  a  long,  thin  line  of  blue  in 
open  order,  its  full  strength  not  exceeding  five  hun- 
dred bayonets !     Was  this  skeleton  force  about  to 


90  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

brave  the  entire  British  front  ?     Such  audacity  was 
scarcely  conceivable.1 

It  was  a  critical  moment.  A  combined  effort  of 
the  English  would  probably  have  given  the  day  to 
them.  As  it  was,  the  infantry  supporting  the  guns 
seemed  to  have  lost  their  heads.  Instead  of  await- 
ing their  foe  at  close  quarters  they  commenced 
firing  in  a  desultory  fashion  at  so  great  a  distance 
as  to  produce  no  effect.  Orders  of  any  kind  from 
the  commanding  general  were  lacking,  and  the 
splendid  cavalry  corps  stood  inactive  within  its 
lines.  Only  the  Highlanders  posted  behind  a  fringe 
of  bushes  on  the  British  left  and  the  artillery  ap- 
peared to  understand  their  duty,  and  to  perform  it. 

1  Contemporaneous  descriptions  of  the  physique  and  morale  of  the 
contending  forces  form  an  interesting  contrast.  Of  the  French, 
Bishop  Stock  says:  "  Intelligence,  activity,  temperance,  patience,  to 
a  surprising  degree,  appeared  to  be  combined  in  the  soldiery  that 
came  over  with  Humbert,  together  with  the  exactest  obedience  to 
discipline  ;  yet,  if  you  except  the  Grenadiers,  they  had  nothing  to 
catch  the  eye.  Their  stature  for  the  most  part  was  low,  their  com- 
plexion pale  and  sallow,  their  clothes  much  the  worse  for  wear ;  to  a 
superficial  observer  they  would  have  appeared  incapable  of  enduring 
almost  any  hardship.  These  were  the  men,  however,  of  whom  it 
was  presently  observed  that  they  could  be  well  content  to  live  on 
bread  or  potatoes,  to  drink  water,  to  make  the  stones  of  the  street 
their  bed,  and  to  sleep  in  their  clothes  with  no  cover  but  the  canopy 
of  heaven." 

Speaking  of  Lake's  men,  the  Under  Secretary  for  Ireland,  in  his 
letter  to  William  Wickham,  Aug.  31,  1798,  remarks  that  they  are 
"  fine  regiments  in  appearance,  fine  men  and  well  drilled,  capable  in 
point  of  body,  youth  and  agility,  and  habilite'  to  face  any  troops." 
Correspondence  of  the  Marquis  of  Cornwall! s,  page  393. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'g8.  9 1 

Perceiving  the  lack  of  cohesion  among  the  Brit- 
ish, Sarrazin  ordered  the  Pas  de  charge  sounded, 
and  the  French  rushed  forward  to  some  hedges 
immediately  in  the  enemy's  front.  Under  cover 
of  these  they  continued  to  advance  in  separate 
bodies,  uttering  the  while  their  war  cries  and 
firing  as  rapidly  as  they  could  reload.  As  they 
came  nearer  some  confusion  was  perceptible  in 
the  English  ranks.  The  artillery  was  vomiting 
grape  and  canister,  but  the  fire  of  the  infantry  had 
slackened.  Now  that  the  soldiers  of  the  republic 
were  at  hand  with  their  deadly  bayonets,  the  war- 
riors of  his  Majesty  felt  their  hearts  fail  within 
them.  Some  one  raised  the  cry  that  the  French 
were  on  the  flanks,  and  of  a  sudden  the  entire 
British  infantry — regulars,  yeomen  and  Fencibles — 
wavered,  broke  and  beat  a  hasty  retreat,  leaving 
on  the  field  Major  Alcock,  sorely  wounded,  and 
many  others  dead  and  dying.  Sarrazin's  men  en- 
gaged the  artillery  on  the  right  of  the  enemy's  posi- 
tion, while  Chief  of  Battalion  Ardouin  attacked  the 
Frasers  and  the  Galway  men  on  the  left.  Shortall 
had  already  lost  his  best  soldiers,  but  instead  of 
retiring  he  pulled  up  his  sleeves  and  took  a  stand 
at  one  of  the  guns  himself.  A  French  officer 
rushed  toward  him  with  levelled  weapon,  and  miss- 
ing fire,  drew  his  sword.  The  intrepid  Englishman, 
like  many  of  his  compatriots  an  adept  at  the  manly 
art  of  boxing,  doubled  up  his  fists  and  knocked  his 
opponent  down.     He  then  mounted  his  horse  and 


92  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

rode  away  with  the  same  cool  and  deliberate  air 
that  had  signallized  his  deportment  throughout  the 
engagement. 

The  astonishing  behavior  of  the  infantry  on  the 
British  right,  and  the  capture  of  Shortall's  guns,  so 
alarmed  General  Lake  that  he  hurriedly  ordered 
a  retreat,  and  that  in  the  teeth  of  Hutchinson's 
opposition.1  The  command  was  superfluous.  The 
British  formation  was  already  a  confused  mass. 
Infantry,  artillery  and  cavalry,  seized  with  an  inde- 
scribable panic,  were  scurrying  to  the  rear,  unheed- 
ing the  exhortations  of  their  officers.  The  cavalry- 
men, gorgeous  in  scarlet,  gold  and  pipe-clay,  with 
powdered  wigs  and  clean-shaven  faces — the  pride  of 
many  a  review — presented  now  a  sorry  aspect  as 
they  spurred  their  horses  in  a  mad  flight  for  safety. 
Killing  prisoners  in  cold  blood  was  one  thing,  and 
meeting  a  disciplined  foe  another !  The  former 
occupation  had  unfitted  them  for  the  latter.  So 
they  dashed  onward,  a  disordered  horde,  riding 
down  all  who  crossed  their  path,  whether  friend  or 
foe.  Of  the  infantry  the  Longford  and  Kilkenny 
regiments  were  the  most  demoralized.  They,  too, 
had  revelled  in  the  blood  of  their  unfortunate  com- 
patriots, and  as  cruelty  and  cowardice  arc  twin 
sisters,  fear  lent  wings  to  their  feet  as  they  fled 
from  the  scene  of  action.  The  Earls  of  Longford 
and  Ormond,  their  respective  commanders,  vainly 
endeavored  to  rally  them.     They  were  only  drawn 

1  Reverend  J.  Gordon's  Histoiy  of  the  Rebellion,  page  285. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  yg8.  93 

into  the  current  themselves.  Ormond,  chief  of  the 
historic  Butlers  of  Ireland,  young,  handsome  and 
brave,  a  prcnx  chevalier  from  head  to  foot,  threw 
himself  among  his  men,  in  a  frenzy  of  mortification 
and  despair.  He  implored  them  impassionately  to 
turn  and  face  the  foe.  Finding  they  heeded  him 
not  he  lost  all  self-control,  and  with  curses  and  im- 
precations laid  about  him  with  his  sword.  He  ran 
two  men  through  the  body  and  left  the  field  with 
tears  of  anger  streaming  down  his  cheeks.  Even 
when  rallied  in  a  churchyard,  with  a  thick  wall  to 
protect  them,  the  militia  refused  to  make  a  stand. 
The  first  appearance  of  the  French  caused  them  to 
scamper  over  the  tombstones  like  frightened  sheep 
and  make  their  way  out  by  the  rear  entrance.1 

At  the  bridge  over  the  Castlebar  River  a  horrible 
crush  ensued.  The  main  body  of  the  British  army 
had  converged  to  that  point,  and  the  narrow  struc- 
ture was  blocked  with  field  guns,  caissons  and  sup- 
ply wagons,  against  which  the  struggling  mass  of 
humanity  surged  in  unreasoning  terror.  Here  it 
was  every  one  for  himself,  the  alternative  to  the 
luckless  foot  soldier  being  death  under  the  hoof  or 
a  plunge  into  the  waters  beneath.  To  increase  the 
confusion  some  shots  fell  in  among  the  fugitives, 
and  in  their  desperation  they  turned  their  weapons 
against  each  other.  How  many  perished  on  the 
bridge  has  never  been  fully  ascertained,  but  for 
weeks  afterward  the   river  and  the   lough  near  by 

1  Correspondence  of  the  Marquis  of  Cornwallis,  page  393. 


94  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

threw  up  mutilated  corpses  in  the  uniform  of  the 
British  line  and  of  the  Anglo-Irish  yeomanry. 

But  the  battle  was  not  yet  over.  The  most  des- 
perate fighting  was  still  to  come.  By  the  exertions 
of  the  Earl  of  Granard,  Major  Thompson,  and  Cap- 
tains Chambers  and  Armstrong,  a  comparatively 
large  body  of  men  were  gotten  together  to  cover 
the  retreat  of  the  army.  This  they  endeavored  to 
do  by  maintaining  a  musketry  fire  from  behind 
hedges  and  thickets  on  the  approaching  Sans-cu- 
lottes.  Unable  to  hold  their  ground  they  retired  to 
the  bridge,  and  took  up  a  position  there  with  a 
curricle  gun.  At  the  same  moment  the  Highland- 
ers and  some  carabineers,  after  being  driven  from 
the  left  wing  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  stationed 
themselves  in  the  public  square  of  Castlebar,  where 
Lieutenant  Blundell  with  two  curricle  guns  had 
been  posted  early  in  the  morning.  To  dislodge  the 
enemy  from  both  these  positions,  Humbert  de- 
tached his  cavalry  from  his  centre  and  moved  it  on 
to  the  town,  with  some  infantry  under  Sarrazin  and 
Adjutant-General  Fontaine. 

A  Protestant  citizen  present  at  the  battle  thus 
relates  some  of  the  details  of  this  conflict :  "  Colonel 
Miller,"  he  says,  "  rushed  into  the  town  crying: 
1  Clear  the  street  for  action  ! '  when  in  a  moment,  as 
a  dam  bursting  its  banks,  a  mixture  of  soldiers  of 
all  kinds  rushed  in  at  every  avenue  ;  a  sergeant  de- 
sired that  every  woman  should  go  to  the  barracks; 
but  Dr.  Hennin's,  another  family  and  mine  retired 


OF  IRELAND   IN  yg8.  95 

into  a  house,  fell  on  our  knees,  and  there  remained 
in  prayer  until  the  town  was  taken.  .  .  .  Four 
brave  Highlanders  at  a  cannon  kept  up  a  brisk  fire 
on  the  French,  but  were  killed  while  loading,  the 
gunner  taken,  and  the  guns  turned  on  our  men. 
Now  the  street  action  became  hot ;  before  it  was 
peal  answering  peal,  but  now  thunder  answering 
thunder  ;  a  black  cloud  of  horrors  hid  the  light  of 
heaven — the  messengers  of  death  groping  their 
way,  as  in  gloomy  hell,  whilst  the  trembling  echoes 
which  shook  our  town  concealed  the  more  melan- 
choly groans  of  the  dying.  When  the  French 
approached  the  new  jail,  our  sentinel  (a  Fraser  Fen- 
cible)  killed  one  Frenchman,  charged  and  killed  an- 
other, shot  a  third  and  a  fourth,  and,  as'  he  fired  at 
and  killed  the  fifth,  a  number  rushed  up  the  steps, 
dashed  his  brains  out,  tumbling  him  from  his  stand, 
and  the  sentry-box  on  his  body." 

The  street  action  lasted  nearly  an  hour,  during 
which  period  every  foot  of  ground  was  obstinately 
disputed.  The  British,  still  having  the  advantage 
of  position  and  numbers,  inflicted  severe  losses  on 
their  opponents,  and  were  only  overcome  in  the 
end  by  sheer  pluck  and  hard  fighting  on  the  part  of 
the  latter.  Death  had  no  terrors  for  these  sons  of 
the  republic,  even  though  to  them  it  meant  not  an 
awakening  in  another  and  better  world,  but  chaos 
and  an  end  of  all  things.  Utterly  regardless  of 
grape  and  canister,  of  sword  and  shell,  they  flung 
themselves    upon    the    foe.      One    grenadier,    after 


96  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

sabring  two  gunners,  placed  his  thumb  on  the 
touch-hole  of  a  cannon  in  time  to  extinguish  the 
burning  fuse.  He  earned  his  epaulettes  for  the 
bold  deed,  which  saved  the  head  of  the  advanc- 
ing column  from  certain  destruction.1  Here  and 
there  the  town's  defenders  succeeded  in  barricading 
themselves  within  private  dwellings,  whence  they 
maintained  a  galling  fire  through  shutters  and  im- 
provised loopholes  of  every  description,  thus  neces- 
sitating a  series  of  separate  assaults,  in  which  the 
bayonet  played  as  active  a  role  as  the  bullet. 

When  the  main  portion  of  the  town  was  in  their 
hands  the  French  turned  their  attention  to  the 
bridge.  There,  as  has  been  mentioned,  a  body  of 
British  with  a  curricle  gun  had  taken  stand.  A 
desperate  melee  was  the  result.  Worked  up  to  a 
pitch  of  fury  by  the  bitterness  of  the  preceding 
conflict,  neither  side  gave  nor  demanded  quarter. 
The  defenders  of  the  bridge  consisted  of  the  rem- 
nants of  many  of  the  regiments  present  on  the 
field  an  hour  before.  There  were  some  Longford 
and  Kilkenny  men,  a  sprinkling  of  "  Frasers,"  and 
a  corporal's  guard  or  so  of  the  6th  Regiment.  The 
gun  itself  was  worked  by  the  few  remaining  sur- 
vivors of  Captain  Shortall's  Royal  Irish  Artillery 
Corps.  The  French  began  by  installing  themselves 
in  the  deserted  buildings  near  the  river's  banks,  and 
from  here  and  the  roads  leading  to  the  bridge  they 
poured  volley  after  volley  on   the  enemy.     As  soon 

1  Fontaine's  Notice  Ilistorique,  page  17. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'g8.  97 

as  the  last  gunner  had  fallen  a  squadron  of  French 
horse,  emerging  from  the  cover  of  a  neighboring 
house,  dashed  at  the  gun,  hoping  to  reach  and  spike 
it  before  assistance  arrived.  In  this  they  were 
foiled  by  the  energy  of  the  British  officers  in  com- 
mand ;  but  in  the  hand-to-hand  combat  that  fol- 
lowed fully  half  of  the  bridge's  defenders  were  mer- 
cilessly cut  down.  The  Chasseurs  lost  two  of  their 
men  and  drew  back ;  then,  reenforced  by  the  arrival 
of  the  infantry,  they  charged  once  more  and  swept 
the  enemy  from  the  field. 

Acts  of  heroism  were  not  lacking  during  the  ob- 
stinate struggle.  Captain  Chambers,  on  the  British 
side,  fought  like  a  very  demon.  With  his  own 
hand  he  killed  or  wounded  several  Frenchmen,  in- 
cluding an  officer.  Throwing  away  his  sword  he 
seized  a  musket  from  a  soldier's  hands  and  contin- 
ued to  fight  until  a  grenadier  had  run  a  bayonet 
clear  down  his  throat,  and  driven  the  point  of  it  out 
at  the  side  of  his  neck.  A  French  chasseur,  on  the 
other  hand,  received  a  ball  in  his  right  arm.  Grasp- 
ing his  sword  with  his  left,  he  went  on  fighting  des- 
perately. Presently  a  ball  entered  his  left  breast ; 
but,  still  undaunted,  he  remained  on  the  spot,  slash- 
ing at  the  enemy  with  might  and  main.  In  the  end 
a  royal  soldier  pierced  him  with  a  bayonet,  and  the 
brave  Frenchman  fell  to  the  earth  a  corpse.1 

Captain  of  Grenadiers  Laugerat  was  struck  by  a 
shell  which  shattered    his  shoulder.     Raising   him- 

1  Jones'  Narrative  of  the  Insurrection. 


98  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

self  as  well  as  he  could,  he  continued  to  encourage 
his  men.  "  Friends,"  he  cried,  "  do  not  trouble 
yourselves  about  me.  Go  forward  to  victory  ;  she 
awaits  you.  Let  me  remain  here,  for  I  die  happy." 
These  were  his  last  words.  A  grenadier  of  the 
same  detachment,  being  mortally  wounded,  turned 
to  one  of  his  comrades  with  the  words  :  "  Take 
these  cartridges;  send  them  to  those  rascals."  Then 
grasping  his  gun  in  a  feverish  embrace,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  Thus  dies  a  French  grenadier  !  "  Even 
in  the  last  agonies  of  death  the  man's  love  of  dis- 
play had  not  deserted  him.1 

While  the  better  men  of  the  British  forces  were 
spilling  their  blood  in  defence  of  the  flag  and  their 
country's  honor,  their  comrades  were  speeding  over 
the  highroad  to  Holly-mount  and  Tuam.  Lake, 
accompanied  by  his  staff,  rode  furiously  along  in 
the  midst  of  the  fugitives,  with  livid  face  and  com- 
pressed lips.  He  cast  not  a  glance  behind  him, 
nor  heeded  the  surrounding  turmoil.  His  haughty 
and  aggressive  spirit  was  smarting  under  the  humili- 
ation of  defeat,  for  which  he  knew  that  he  alone 
was  to  blame.  Hutchinson  felt  the  pangs  of  morti- 
fication no  less  than  his  commander,  but  to  him 
this  was  not  a  time  for  vain  regrets.  He  directed 
all  his  efforts  to  rallying  the  men  and  turning  the 
flight  into  the  semblance  of  an  orderly  retreat.  He 
was  not  successful.  Neither  persuasion,  commands 
nor    threats   availed    to    stem  their  wild  stampede. 

1  Fontaine's  Notice  Historique,  page  20. 


-!#£>  C?^'^-^9n^ 


LAKE'S    FLIGHT    FROM   CASTLEBAR. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'q8.  99 

On  they  rode,  hearing  a  menace  in  every  whisper 
of  the  wind,  a  cannonade  in  every  rustling  of  the 
leaves.  Beside  this,  John  Gilpin's  famous  pace 
sinks  to  the  level  of  a  peddler's  jog,  nor  did  Tarn 
O'Shanter's  Mag  e'er  display  such  mettle  as  their 
panting,  sweating  beasts,  spurred  on  until  the  blood 
dripped  from  their  flanks.  So  great  was  their  fright, 
indeed,  that  they  never  stopped  for  breath  until  they 
had  reached  the  town  of  Tuam,  forty  miles  away  ; 
and  even  here  they  paused  scarce  long  enough  to 
eat,  and  then  made  on  to  Athlone.  At  this  place 
an  officer  of  carabineers,  with  sixty  of  his  men, 
arrived  on  the  afternoon  of  the  29th  of  September. 
These  heroes  had  covered  a  distance  of  over  seventy 
English  miles  in  twenty-seven  hours !  No  wonder 
the  battle  has  been  jocularly  styled  "  the  races  of 
Castlebar  " ! 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A  Disgraceful  Incident — Losses  on  Both  Sides — The  French  indulge 
in  the  Pleasures  of  Music  and  Dancing — General  Results  of  the 
Battle — A  Republican  Government  for  Connaught. 


HE  flight  of  the  British  from 
|  <fo  Castlebar  was  marked  by  an 
episode  of  which  two  dis- 
tinct and  widely  different 
versions  have  been  handed 
down  by  contemporaneous 
writers.  According  to  Brit- 
ish official  accounts,  a  party 
of  French  dragoons  pursued  the  re- 
treating army  above  a  mile  from  the 
town  and  took  a  piece  of  cannon,  which  they  were 
on  the  point  of  turning  on  their  rear,  but  a  party  of 
Lord  Roden's  Fencibles  rescued  the  gun  and  killed 
five  of  them. 

The  other  side  of  the  story  is  as  follows  :  It  ap- 
pears that  when  Humbert  entered  Castlebar  and 
witnessed  the  utter  demoralization  of  the  enemy 
he  instructed  Bartholomew    Teeling  to  secure   the 


FRENCH  INVASION   OF  IRELAND.  1 01 

swiftest  horses  in  the  town  for  himself  and  an 
escort,  and  follow  up  General  Lake  with  proposals 
for  a  capitulation  of  the  British  army.  Teeling 
had  greatly  distinguished  himself  during  the  day. 
He  had  been  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  and  single- 
handed  had  captured  an  English  regimental  stand- 
ard. Wishing  to  pay  a  signal  compliment  to  his 
subordinate,  Humbert  insisted  that  he  should  use 
the  trophy  as  a  flag  of  truce  in  lieu  of  the  usual 
white  bunting.  As  Teeling  with  his  party  crossed 
a  small  eminence  in  the  rear  of  the  retreating  force, 
they  were  suddenly  set  upon  by  a  body  of  horse- 
men, who,  disregarding  the  flag  of  truce — probably 
not  comprehending  it — cut  down  every  man  but 
Teeling  himself.  They  spared  the  latter  only  on 
account  of  his  officer's  uniform,  but  they  took  him 
along  with  them  a  prisoner.  Forced  to  accompany 
the  army  in  its  retreat  for  many  a  weary  mile, 
denied  access  to  General  Lake,  insulted  and  threat- 
ened with  death,  Teeling  preserved  his  dignity  and 
stubbornly  refused  to  communicate  the  purport  of 
his  message  to  the  various  officers  who  questioned 
him.  Therefore  no  alternative  being  left  to  his 
captors,  he  was  at  length  taken  into  Lake's  pres- 
ence. The  commander-in-chief  became  furious 
when  Humbert's  words  were  transmitted  to  him; 
and  well  he  might,  for  this  was,  as  he  considered, 
heaping  insult  on  injury.  Lake  expressed  indigna- 
tion at  the  language  of  the  message  and  indulged 
in    personalities,    whereupon    Teeling  protested    in 


102  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

courteous  but  decided  terms.  This  only  increased 
the  Englishman's  rage.  "  You,  sir,  are  an  Irish- 
man," he  cried.  "  I  shall  treat  you  as  a  rebel. 
Why  have  you  been  selected  by  General  Humbert 
on  this  occasion?"  "To  convey  to  you,  sir,"  was 
the  reply,  "  his  proposal  in  a  language  which  he  pre- 
sumes you  understand.  As  to  your  menace,  you 
cannot  be  ignorant  that  you  have  left  with  us  many 
British  officers,  prisoners  at  Castlebar." 

Here  the  interview  ended  and  Lake  sullenly 
turned  away.  Not  long  after  General  Hutchinson 
rode  up  and  apologized  with  every  evidence  of 
sincerity  for  the  rash  act  of  his  cavalry.  He  also 
brought  an  apology  from  General  Lake — who  had 
apparently  reconsidered  matters — coupled  with  the 
request  that  the  French  commander  desist  from 
reprisals.  Teeling  was  given  full  permission  to  re- 
turn to  Castlebar,  and  an  escort  was  placed  at  his 
disposal.  He  declined  the  escort,  but  insisted  on  a 
surrender  of  his  flag  of  truce — a  demand  that  caused 
some  hesitation  on  Hutchinson's  part,  yet  was  com- 
plied with  in  the  end.  Accompanied  by  that  officer 
to  the  limits  of  the  British  lines,  Teeling  set  out  for 
Castlebar.  He  arrived  there  early  in  the  evening, 
anxiously  awaited  by  Humbert,  whose  apprehen- 
sions for  his  safety  had  increased  with  his  prolonged 
absence.  A  man  of  violent  temper  when  aroused, 
Humbert  swore  dire  vengeance  on  the  murderers  of 
Teeling's  unfortunate  companions,  and  it  required 
all  the  Irishman's   persuasive   powers    to    calm    his 


Of  IRELAND  IN  %q8.  103 

wrath  and  bring  him  to  a  more  reasonable  view  of 
the  matter.1 

The  battle  of  Castlebar  cost  the  British  dear.  It 
is  true  that  the  official  report  places  the  casualties 
at  "  one  sergeant  and  fifty-two  rank  and  file  killed  ; 
two  lieutenants,  three  sergeants,  and  twenty-nine 
rank  and  file  wounded ;  two  majors,  three  captains, 
six  lieutenants,  three  ensigns,  two  staff,  ten  ser- 
geants, two  drummers,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  rank  and  file  missing — also  nine  field  pieces." 
But  the  testimony  of  many  participants  goes  to 
prove  that  these  figures  underestimate  the  loss. 
Humbert,  in  his  report  to  the  French  Directory, 
puts  the  enemy's  casualties  at  "  1,800  men — of  which 
600  were  killed  or  wounded  and  1,200  prisoners 
— ten  pieces  of  cannon,  five  stand  of  colors,  1,200 
fire-locks,  and  almost  all  the  baggage."  Here  again 
there  is  a  palpable  misstatement,  although  an  ex- 
cusable one  under  the  circumstances.  In  order  to 
keep  up  the  interest  at  home  in  the  progress  of 
the  expedition,  and  to  secure  the  much-needed 
reinforcements  and  supplies,  the  French  general 
felt  justified  in  resorting  to  such  exaggerations.  In 
point  of  fact  the  defeat  cost  the  English  about  600 
men,  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners,  and  the  greater 
part  of  their  artillery  and  stores.  But  this  loss  is 
trifling  when  compared  to  the  humiliation  brought 
upon  England's  pride.  Some  of  her  most  decisive 
victories  in  the  past  had  been  won  by  forces  numeri- 

1  C.  H.  Teeling's  Personal  Narrative,  etc.,  pages  217-220. 


104  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

cally  but  little  larger  than  the  one  engaged  at  Castle- 
bar  ; x  and  that  this  well-equipped  body  of  men, 
inured  to  hardship  and  military  life  by  several 
months  of  warfare,  should  succumb  to  a  most  insig- 
nificant foe,  was  the  bitterest  pill  the  nation  had 
had  to  swallow  for  many  a  day.  For  a  moment  it 
seemed  as  if  even  the  great  Marlborough's  achieve- 
ments had  been  put  in  the  shade  ;  for,  asked  the 
pessimist,  had  he  ever  beaten  the  French  under 
similar  circumstances? 

No  absolutely  reliable  account  has  ever  been 
given  of  the  French  losses  on  this  momentous  oc- 
casion. Humbert,  for  reasons  of  his  own,  omitted 
any  mention  of  the  subject  in  his  report  to  his  gov- 
ernment. That  they  were  very  severe  admits  of 
no  doubt  whatever.  When,  two  weeks  later,  the 
French  army  surrendered  at  Ballinamuck,  it  had 
dwindled  from  1,130  men — the  number  that  origi- 
nally landed  at  Killala — to  844.  Of  the  300  men, 
more  or  less,  who  succumbed  during  the  campaign, 
probably  two-thirds  bit  the  dust  at  Castlebar ;  in 
other  words,  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
French  effective.2  Among  the  dead  were  the  chief 
of  staff,  Grignon,  and  Lieutenant  Moisson,  who 
charged    through    the    town    at    the    head    of    the 

1  Plassey  and  Quebec. 

2 Fontaine  says:  "This  victory  at  Castlebar  cost  us  forty  dead, 
and  we  also  had  a  hundred  and  eighty  wounded."'  But  he  does  not 
explain  whether  the  losses  of  the  Irish  allies  are  included  in  this  esti- 
mate.     The  probability  is  that  they  are  not. 


■s 


the  officers  in  their  shabby  uniforms, 
Irish  belles  in   their  bucolic  finery, 


the  lithesome 
—Page  105. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'q8.  IO$ 

French  cavalry.  About  a  hundred  of  the  prisoners 
were  Roman  Catholic  yeoman  from  Louth  and  Kil- 
kenny, who,  when  appealed  to  by  Humbert's  Irish 
allies,  expressed  a  willingness  to  serve  under  the 
French  flag.     They  were  mustered  in  to  a  man. 

Despite  the  hardships  of  their  march  to  the  field 
of  victory,  despite  their  decimation  by  shot  and 
shell,  the  soldiers  of  the  French  Republic,  once  the 
conflict  over,  had  thoughts  but  for  distraction  and 
pleasure.  The  Gallic  nature,  with  its  fantastic  mo- 
bility, its  violent  contrasts,  once  more  asserted  it- 
self. On  the  very  evening  of  the  battle,  with  the 
dead  lying  unburied  on  every  side,  with  the  un- 
housed wounded  torturing  the  air  with  their  moans, 
Humbert's  officers  brushed  off  the  dust  and  powder 
of  the  fray  and  assembled  all  that  remained  of 
youth  and  beauty  "  to  trip  the  light  fantastic  toe  " 
from  "  eve  till  dewy  morn."  It  was  a  strange  scene 
— the  large,  bare  hall,  lighted  by  the  mellow  gleam 
of  flickering  candles;  the  officers  in  their  shabby 
uniforms,  some  embellished  with  white  bandages 
that  would  later  blush  with  the  blood  of  the 
wounds  they  concealed  ;  the  lithesome  Irish  belles 
in  their  bucolic  finery,  whose  simple  minds  were 
half  repelled  by  these  rough  exteriors,  half  fright- 
ened at  this  reckless  indifference  to  surrounding 
dangers  and  hardships,  yet  wholly  fascinated  by  the 
martial  halo  that  enveloped  their  "  deliverers." 
The  faint,  wheezy  notes  of  a  spinet,  accompanied  by 
the  screech  of  a  fiddle  manipulated  by  fingers  more 


io6  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

used  to  grasping  a  sword  than  a  bow,  supplied  the 
music  that  wooed  the  too-willing  feet  to  merry 
measures.  Through  the  open  casements  the  night 
air,  still  heavy  with  the  breath  of  battle,  entered 
to.  cool  the  hot  cheeks  of  the  damsels,  and  by  its 
familiar  odor  to  spur  on  the  sons  of  Mars  to  softer 
conquests.1 

Though  Terpsichore  elated  them  and  Venus  en- 
chanted them,  these  heroes  had  still  another  source 
of  gratification.  The  work  of  the  morning  had  ele- 
vated them  another  step  on  the  ladder  of  promo- 
tion. Sarrazin,  already  raised  one  grade  at  Killala, 
was  now  a  general  of  division  ;  Fontaine,  who  had 
led  the  cavalry  with  such  decisive  results,  had  be- 
come a  general  of  brigade ;  and  chiefs  of  battalion 
Ardouin,  Azemare,  and  Dufour  exchanged  their 
rank  for  that  of  brigade  commander.  Every  man, 
in  fact,  who  had  at  all  distinguished  himself  during 
the  day — and  there  were  few  who  had  not — re- 
ceived his  reward  at  nightfall. 

During  all  that  night  bonfires  blazed  from  every 
eminence  around  the  town  of  Castlebar,  and  far  out 
toward  Westport  and  Newport  to  the  west.  By 
this  the  peasantry  manifested  their  elation  at  the 
success  of  the  invaders,  and  their  readiness  to  take 
up  arms  for  the  cause.  At  Westport  some  depre- 
dations were  committed  on  Protestant  property,  but 
the  owners  on  fleeing  to  Castlebar  found  at  least 
ample  protection  for  their  persons.    By  the  morning 

1  Sir  Jonah  Barrington  is  the  authority  for  this  incident. 


OF  IRELAND  W  '?<?.  10? 

of  the  28th  the  town  was  overflowing  with  peasants 
from  all  parts  of  the  province  of  Connaught,  some 
armed  with  rusty  match-locks,  some  with  pikes,  and 
some  with  shillalahs.  All  were  in  a  fever  of  excite- 
ment, and  desired  to  be  enrolled  as  soldiers  of  the 
Irish  republic.  Shouting  their  wild  refrains,  the 
throng  marched  through  the  streets  in  military- 
order,  their  leaders  bearing  the  "  tree  of  liberty," 
surmounted  by  the  Phrygian  cap. 

Although  from  the  beginning  Humbert  had  man- 
fully opposed  all  attempts  to  despoil  the  loyalists  of 
their  property,  it  was  beyond  his  power  to  prevent 
the  pillage  of  the  residences  of  Lords  Lucan  and  Al- 
tamont.  Taking  advantage  of  the  confusion  occa- 
sioned by  the  capture  of  Castlebar,  the  insurgents 
ransacked  these  two  magnificent  mansions  from 
attic  to  cellar.  Lord  Altamont's  property  suffered 
most.  His  horses  and  cattle  were  driven  off,  his 
wine  casks  emptied,  and  his  handsome  furniture 
smashed  during  the  drunken  revels  of  the  pillagers. 
The  carved  doors  were  dragged  from  their  hinges, 
and  the  stained-glass  window  panes  shattered  to 
atoms ;  in  short,  the  work  of  demolition  was  com- 
plete. Of  Lord  Lucan  it  is  fair  to  say  that  his 
treatment  was  undeserved.  He  had  done  much  in 
the  few  preceding  years  to  improve  the  town  of 
Castlebar,  which  practically  belonged  to  him,  one 
of  his  recent  improvements  being  the  construction 
of  a  large  linen  hall,  with  assembly  rooms. 

This  taste  of  the  sweets  of  revenge,  instead  of  ap- 


Io8  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

peasing  the  half-intoxicated  multitude,  only  served 
to  whet  their  appetites.  After  ravaging  Lord 
Lucan's  house  they  proceeded  to  the  Protestant 
church,  which  they  left  an  absolute  wreck,1  and 
then  assembled  on  a  lawn  to  discuss  the  advisabil- 
ity of  a  general  massacre  of  the  Protestants.  The 
French  officers  present  protested  vigorously  against 
any  such  course,  and  Teeling  and  O'Keon  added  the 
weight  of  their  influence  to  restrain  the  bloodthirsty 
desires  of  the  mob.  A  certain  Dr.  Crump,  more 
persistent  than  the  rest,  mustered  a  band  of  plunder- 
ers and  marched  with  them  to  Humbert's  quarters, 
where  he  formally  demanded  permission  to  indulge 
in  one  hour's  revenge  on  the  Protestant  popula- 
tion. He  seemed  to  consider  this  a  poor  compen- 
sation for  over  a  hundred  years  of  suffering  at  their 
hands.  His  pious  request  was  not  granted.  Hum- 
bert curtly  informed  him  that  any  further  aggres- 
sion on  loyalist  civilians  would  be  promptly  pun- 
ished. That  ended  all  talk  of  massacre  in  Castlebar. 
Several  more  houses  were  pillaged,  however,  one 
being  the  handsome  home  of  Lord  Altamont's 
brother,  Mr.  Dennis  Browne,  and  another  the  resi- 
dence of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ellison,  who  has  already 
been  spoken  of  as  participating,  while  a  guest  of 
Bishop  Stock,  in  the  defence  of  Killala.  The  rev- 
erend gentleman,  after  partly  recovering  from  his 
wound,  was  taken  along  by  the  French  as  a  pris- 
oner of  war,  together  with  about  eighty  other  loy- 

1  Jones'  Narrative,  p.  296. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'g8.  IO9 

alists,  including  one  of  the  bishop's  sons.  Un- 
known to  Humbert,  some  members  of  the  native 
contingent  broke  into  the  parsonage  and  carried  off 
every  article  of  value.  This  act  greatly  incensed 
the  French  general,  who  entertained  a  profound 
respect  for  his  clerical  prisoner.  It  is  even  said 
that  Ellison's  influence  with  Humbert  prevented 
the  levy  of  two  thousand  guineas  on  the  town  of 
Castlebar. 

Taken  all  in  all,  the  conduct  of  the  French  them- 
selves during  the  occupation  was  deserving  of  all 
praise,  and  this  eulogy  applies  no  less  to  the  indi- 
vidual soldier  than  to  the  chiefs.  "  Many  of  us," 
wrote  a  Protestant  citizen  of  the  town,  "  proved 
them  both  brave  and  generous  ;  those  who  were 
lions  in  the  street  seemed  like  lambs  in  the  parlor." 
But,  as  if  fearful  of  having  said  too  much  in  their 
favor,  he  hastens  to  add :  "  However,  I  have  im- 
agined this  to  be  policy,  and  that  if  they  had  once 
conquered  the  country,  they  would  in  a  mass  cut 
off  all  who  had  opposed  them."1 

Another  inhabitant  of  Castlebar  has  left  an  in- 
teresting account  of  the  arrival  at  his  house  of  a 
party  of  the  invaders.  He  obtained  their  good  will 
by  supplying  them  with  meat  and  wine.  "The 
rebels,"  he  writes,  "  who  accompanied  them  at  first, 
plundered  us  of  various  articles;  but  one  day  when 
they  revisited  us  I  alarmed  my  foreign  visitors, 
who  expelled  and  chastised  them  severely.     One  of 

1  Jones'  Narrative,  page  301. 


IIO  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

them,  by  name  Phillip  Sheers,  was  from  Holland  ;  I 
gave  him  my  watch,  but  he  kindly  returned  it ; 
another,  Bartholomew  Baillie,  from  Paris,  was  mild, 
learned,  and  rather  silent.  He  had  been  a  priest, 
but  on  the  overthrow  of  his  order  became  a  sol- 
dier. He  denied  a  future  existence.  One  Ballis- 
ceau,  a  Spaniard,  was  as  intrepid  as  Hannibal. 
Since  the  age  of  fifteen  he  had  followed  the  pro- 
fession of  a  soldier.  He  had  been  a  prisoner  in 
Prussia,  in  Paris,  and  in  London.  He  had  been 
confined  in  a  dungeon  at  Constantinople.  He  had 
crossed  the  Alps  with  Bonaparte,  and  fought  under 
him  in  Italy.  His  body,  head  and  face  were  cov- 
ered with  wounds.  He  was  a  hard  drinker,  a  great 
swearer,  and  mocked  religion  ;  and  yet  he  was  very 
fond  of  children,  and  never  entered  my  apartments 
without  constantly  enquiring  for  my  wife,  who  was 
on  the  point  of  lying-in.  The  fourth  was  from 
Rochelle  and  the  fifth  from  Toulon."1 

It  has  been  seen  that,  like  all  French  commanders 
of  the  day — men  who  had  worked  their  way  up 
amid  the  turmoil  and  uncertainties  of  a  revolution- 
ary regime — Humbert  had  much  of  the  politician 
in  his  composition.  He  had  graduated  from  a 
school  in  which  the  soldier  was  taught  to  consider 
the  promulgation  of  republican  doctrine  as  much  a 
part  of  his  profession  as  the  waging  of  war.  To 
this  circumstance  was  due  the  initial  mistake  of 
a  campaign   thus  far  crowned  with  the  most  unex- 

1  Musgrave's  Memoirs,  page  596. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  Ill 

ampled  success.  Instead  of  pushing  forward  after 
the  enemy  and  making  the  best  use  of  his  victory, 
Humbert  settled  down  to  the  task  of  forming  a 
republican  government  for  the  province  of  Con- 
naught.  When  his  object  became  known  purvey- 
ors of  advice,  candidates  for  office,  pothouse  ora- 
tors and  embryo  politicians  of  every  stripe  and 
color  came  forward  by  the  dozens.  Every  one  of 
them  wanted  a  voice  in  the  councils  of  the  new  gov- 
ernment ;  every  one  had  his  own  little  plan  for  the 
regeneration  of  Ireland.  The  very  men  who  had 
studiously  avoided  facing  the  hated  "  Sassenachs  " 
on  the  field  of  battle,  were  loudest  in  their  claims 
for  political  recognition.  It  took  Humbert  a  full 
day  to  rid  himself  of  this  rabble.  But  it  cannot  be 
said  that  any  of  his  selections  from  among  the  na- 
tives were  particularly  happy.  He  was  necessarily 
obliged  to  listen  to  all  such  as  wielded  influence 
with  the  populace,  and  the  majority  of  these  were 
demagogues  or  scheming  clericals.  One  man  whose 
counsel  would  seem  to  have  carried  some  weight 
with  the  French  general  was  Michael  Gannon,  a 
drunken  priest  who  had  formerly  been  confessor  to 
the  Duke  of  Crillon  in  France,  and,  after  the  latter's 
death,  to  his  widow.  At  the  commencement  of  the 
great  revolution  Gannon,  to  escape  persecution, 
returned  to  his  home  in  Ireland.  Like  other  Irish 
priests  of  the  period,  he  affected  to  ignore  the 
avowed  atheism  of  the  invaders.  On  one  occasion 
he  harangued  a  large  body  of  insurgents  from  Hum- 


112  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

bert's  window,  in  response  to  an  urgent  appeal  to 
accept  a  military  command.  He  told  them  in  sub- 
stance that  he  felt  himself  incapable  of  leading 
them  in  the  field,  but  he  would  pray  for  the  cause 
and  fight  by  their  side.  He  further  promised  to 
heal  their  wounds  with  holy  oil,  of  which  he  held 
up  a  specimen  in  a  bottle,  amid  the  tumultuous 
enthusiasm  of  his  audience.  Gannon's  usual  attire 
consisted  of  a  French  military  cocked  hat  and  a 
suit  of  fine  silk  clothes,  the  property  of  his  former 
master.1 

On  August  31st,  or  four  days  after  the  entrance 
of  the  French  into  Castlebar,  a  new  civil  govern- 
ment was  proclaimed  for  Connaught.  The  govern- 
ing body  was  to  consist  of  twelve  members,  to  be 
named  by  the  French  commander,  with  one  John 
Moore  as  president.  The  town  of  Castlebar  was 
made  the  seat  of  government.  The  first  duty  of 
the  executive,  as  defined  by  the  proclamation,  was 
the  organization  and  equipment  of  a  force  of  mili- 
tia and  the  furnishing  of  supplies  to  the  French 
and  their  allies.  The  force  to  be  created  was  to 
number  eight  regiments  of  infantry  of  1,200  men 
each,  and  four  regiments  of  cavalry  of  600  men 
each.  All  persons  having  received  arms  or  cloth- 
ing and  failing  to  join  the  army  within  twenty-four 
hours  were  declared  "  rebels  and  traitors."  The 
closing  paragraph  of  the  proclamation  required,  "  in 
the  name  of  the  Irish  Republic,"  every  male  from 

1  Musgrave's  Memoirs,  page  601. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'g8.  113 

the  age  of  sixteen  to  forty,  inclusive,  to  "  instantly 
repair  to  the  French  camp,  in  order  to  march  in 
mass  against  the  common  enemy — the  tyrants  of 
Ireland — the  English,  whose  destruction  alone  can 
insure  the  independence  and  welfare  of  Ancient 
Hibernia !  " 

The  new  republican  government  thus  conjured 
into  existence  was  but  a  mirage.  The  president — a 
weak-minded  person,  as  the  result  showed — amused 
himself  on  the  first  day  of  his  appointment,  issuing 
assignats  in  the  name  of  the  French  Government ; 
and  when  the  French  departed,  three  days  later,  the 
whole  legislative  system  collapsed.  In  the  mean- 
while the  insurgents,  after  numerous  quarrels  among 
themselves  over  prospective  spoils,  also  succeeded  in 
electing  a  mayor  for  Castlebar,  two  high  justices  and 
six  municipal  officers.  Half  the  zeal  expended  by 
them  in  this  useless  scramble  might  on  the  field  of 

honor  have  turned  the  scale  in  their  favor. 

8 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Humbert  resumes  Operations  in  the  Field — The  British  Plan  of 
Campaign — Battle  of  Colooney — Battle  and  Surrender  at  Balli- 
namuck — Case  of  Bartholomew  Teeling. 


FTER  organizing  a  govern- 
ment for  Connaught,  Hum- 
bert once  more  turned  his 
attention  to  the  military  sit- 
uation, and  began  laying  his 
plans  for  a  march  into  the 
heart  of  the  country.  In 
a  letter  addressed  to  the 
f-^nS^'  French  Minister  of  Marine,  three  or 
four  days  after  the  battle  of  Castle- 
bar,  he  had  outlined  his  programme  in  the  fol- 
lowing language :  "  As  soon  as  the  corps  of  United 
Irishmen  shall  be  clothed,  I  shall  march  against 
the  enemy  in  the  direction  of  Roscommon  (to  the 
southeast),  where  the  partisans  of  the  insurrection 
are  most  zealous.  As  soon  as  the  English  army 
shall  have  evacuated  the  province  of  Connaught,  I 
shall  pass  the  Shannon  and  shall  endeavor  to  make 


FRENCH  INVASION  OF  IRELAND.  H5 

a  junction  with  the  insurgents  in  the  north.  When 
this  shall  have  been  effected  I  shall  be  in  a  sufficient 
force  to  march  to  Dublin,  and  to  fight  a  decisive 
action." 

He  explained  in  this  letter  that  the  slow  progress 
of  the  French  was  due  to  the  hesitancy  of  the  Irish 
allies;  and  in  order  that  "  this  handful  of  French" 
may  not  be  obliged  to  yield  to  numbers,  he  asked 
that  reinforcements  be  sent,  consisting  of  one  bat- 
talion of  the  3d  Half  Brigade  of  Light  Infantry, 
one  of  the  10th  Half  Brigade  of  the  line,  150  of  the 
3d  Regiment  of  Chasseurs  a  Cheval,  and  100  men 
of  the  Light  Artillery;  also  15,000  fire-locks  and 
1,000,000  cartridges.  ''I  will  venture  to  assert," 
were  his  concluding  words,  "that  in  the  course  of 
a  month  after  the  arrival  of  this  reenforcement, 
which  I  estimate  at  2,000  men,  Ireland  will  be 
free ! " 

Humbert  was  apparently  ill-informed  regarding 
the  situation  at  the  time  he  penned  his  appeal  to 
the  French  Directory.  The  county  of  Roscommon 
was  but  a  very  small  portion  of  the  disaffected  dis- 
trict, which  in  reality  comprised  counties  Leitrim, 
Cavan,  and  Monaghan  to  the  northeast,  and  Long- 
ford and  Westmeath1   to  the  east  (see   map).     In 

1  Though  revolutionary,  the  spirit  of  the  insurgents  was  far 
from  being  republican,  if  the  following  proclamation,  which  was 
found  posted  on  a  church  at  Westmeath,  may  be  taken  as  a  sample 
of  their  ideas  :  *'  Take  notice,  heretic  usurpers,  that  the  brave  slaves 
of   this  island  will  no  longer  lie  in  bondage;  the  die  is  cast,  our  de- 


Il6  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

fact  the  revolutionary  spirit  extended  even  to  Dub- 
lin. From  the  day  of  the  French  landing,  the 
village  blacksmiths  everywhere  had  been  busily 
employed  manufacturing  pikes,  the  "  croppy's " 
favorite  weapon,  and  the  preparations  were  now 
complete  for  a  general  uprising  and  cooperation 
with  the  French  forces  in  their  march  to  the  capital. 
It  being  generally  assumed  that  the  invaders  would 
select  the  shortest  route,  which  was  through  Long- 
ford, it  was  determined  to  aid  them  by  the  seizure 
of  the  town  of  Granard,  a  strong  post  situated  on 
an  eminence  near  the  county  line.  The  leaders  in 
this  movement  were  two  men  of  property,  Alexan- 
der and  Hans  Denniston,  who  lived  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Granard,  and  although  members  of  the 
Mastrim  yeomanry  cavalry,  had  secretly  espoused 
the  patriot  cause.  The  advent  of  the  French  in 
Mayo  had  been  anticipated  for  months  by  the  revo- 
lutionists in  Belfast  and  many  northern  towns,  and 
when  the  news  came  of  the  advance  on  Ballina, 
Hans  Denniston  repaired  north  to  deliberate  with 
the  rebel  leaders.     It  was  intended  that  the  attack 

liverers  are  come,  and  the  royal  brute  who  held  the  iron  rod  of 
despotic  tyranny  is  expiring  ;  nor  shall  one  govern.  Our  holy  old 
religion  shall  be  established  in  this  house,  and  the  earth  shall  no 
longer  be  burthened  with  bloody  heretics  who,  under  the  pretence  of 
rebellion  (which  they  themselves  have  raised),  mean  to  massacre  us  ! " 

"The  Fleur-de-lis  and  harp  we  will  display 
While  tyrant  heretics  shall  mould  to  clay. 

Revenge  !  Revenge !  Revenge !  " 
Musgrave's  Memoirs,  Appendix,  page  165. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'gS.  II? 

on  Granard,  then  weakly  garrisoned,  should  take 
place  immediately  on  his  return. 

In  the  meanwhile  reinforcements  to  the  Long- 
ford army  came  pouring  in  from  all  sides,  West- 
meath  sending  3,000  men  and  Roscommon  an 
almost  equally  large  number.  In  Monaghan  and 
Cavan,  on  the  other  hand,  large  bodies  of  men  were 
held  in  readiness  to  march  at  a  moment's  notice  and 
form  a  junction  with  their  brethren  as  soon  as  Gra- 
nard should  be  taken.  The  Monaghan  army  alone 
numbered  23,000  men,  according  to  a  reliable  au- 
thority, and  was  armed  with  matchlocks,  sabres  and 
pikes,  but  lacked  cannon  and  ammunition ;  and  in 
order  to  make  up  for  this  deficiency  the  leaders 
proposed  to  attack  the  town  of  Cavan,  containing  a 
well-stocked  depot  of  war  material.1 

As  far  as  Humbert  was  therefore  concerned,  every- 
thing pointed  toward  a  rapid  advance  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Granard.  But  here  already  the  results  of 
his  dilatory  policy  commenced  making  themselves 
felt.  On  the  morning  of  September  3d  he  was 
informed  of  the  presence  of  Lord  Cornwallis  at  Ath- 
lone,  with  a  large  body  of  regulars,  and  of  the  con- 
centration of  other  hostile  armies  further  south  and 
east.  He  considered  it  inadvisable  to  encounter 
such  a  force  with  his  insignificant  body  of  French 
and  his  more  numerous  but  entirely  undisciplined 
Irish  contingent ;  so,  having  learned  from  a  spy 
named    Jourdan   that    counties  Sligo    and   Leitrim 

1  Jones'  Narrative,  pages  306,  307. 


IlS  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

were  comparatively  free  from  the  enemy,  he  decided 
to  adopt  that  circuitous  route  to  the  capital.  He 
sent  orders  to  the  troops  he  had  left  at  Killala,  and 
a  small  detachment  stationed  at  Ballina,  to  meet 
him  en  route,  and  on  the  night  of  September  3d  the 
first  division  of  his  army,  with  the  baggage  and  can- 
non, set  out  for  Sligo.  The  next  morning  the  second 
division  followed,  about  400  Frenchmen  and  from 
1,500  to  2,000  Irish  auxiliaries.  The  majority  of  the 
"  patriots"  had  preferred  remaining  behind,  presum- 
ably to  look  after  the  "government." 

On  leaving  Castlebar,  the  French  general  gave  his 
eighty  prisoners  their  liberty,  as  they  would  only 
have  proved  an  incumbrance  during  the  march. 
Doctor  Ellison  was  one  of  them.  When  the  French 
were  fairly  out  of  sight  he  sent  a  letter  to  Lord 
Cornwallis,  who  was  supposed  to  have  reached  Hol- 
lymount,  fourteen  miles  to  the  south.  Embold- 
ened by  the  continued  absence  of  the  invaders — 
it  had  been  suspected  at  first  that  their  departure 
was  but  a  feint — the  Doctor  by  and  by  started  out 
himself  on  the  Hollymount  road,  where  he  met 
Colonel  Crawford  with  a  cavalry  detachment,  con- 
sisting of  some  Hompeschers — Hessian  mercena- 
ries— and  Roxburgh  Fencibles.  Informed  of  the 
state  of  affairs  in  Castlebar,  the  colonel  proceeded 
thither  at  full  speed,  accompanied  by  Ellison.  They 
reached  their  destination  at  a  late  hour  in  a  pour- 
ing rain,  and  their  appearance  created  a  verita- 
ble panic  among  the  insurgents.     Crawford  imme- 


OF  IRELAND   IN  >g8.  1 1 9 

diately  sent  for  John  Moore,  the  previously  men- 
tioned "  President  of  Connaught,"  and  ordered  him 
to  disclose  any  information  he  might  possess  touch- 
ing the  route  and  plans  of  the  French  army.  As 
the  unfortunate  man  declared  himself  ignorant  on 
the  subject,  the  colonel  ordered  a  dragoon  to  draw 
his  sword  and  decapitate  him.  This  bloodthirsty 
command  so  frightened  the  victim  that  he  fell 
on  his  knees,  invoked  the  saints,  and  begged  for 
mercy,  producing  at  the  same  time  his  commis- 
sion as  "  President,"  an  act  of  self-incrimination 
that  can  with  difficulty  be  accounted  for,  unless, 
as  has  been  stated  by  one  writer,  the  President  of 
the  Province  of  Connaught  was  really  under  the 
influence  of  liquor  at  the  time. 

Let  us  now  view  the  position  of  his  Majesty's 
forces.  On  September  3d  Lord  Cornwallis  arrived 
at  Tuam  from  Athlone,  with  the  army  he  had 
formed  in  the  east,  a  portion  of  which  consisted  of 
the  shattered  remnants  of  General  Lake's  beaten 
forces.  As  the  British  commander  lacked  informa- 
tion regarding  the  intentions  of  the  French,  he 
resolved  to  continue  his  march  to  Castlebar  with 
one  portion  of  the  army,  while  General  Lake 
with  14,000  men 1  moved  direct  northward  and 
joined  General  Taylor,  who  after  the  battle  of 
Castlebar  had  retreated  from  Foxford  and  taken 
his  stand  at  the  village  of  Ballyhadireen.  (See 
map.)     Lake's    division  was   made    up    as    follows : 

1  Jones'  Narrative,  page  322. 


120  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

the  cavalry  consisted  of  the  23d  Light  Dragoons, 
the  1st  Fencible  Light  Dragoons,  the  Roxburgh 
Fencible  Dragoons,  and  some  mounted  carabineers, 
under  command  of  Colonel  Sir  Thomas  Chapman, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Maxwell,  the  Earl  of  Roden  and 
Captain  Kerr;  the  infantry  was  made  up  of  the 
Third  Battalion  of  Light  Infantry,  the  Armagh  and 
part  of  the  Kerry  Militia,  the  Reay  and  Northamp- 
ton Regiments,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales'  Fencible 
Regiment  of  Fusileers,  under  the  orders  of  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Innes  6f  the  64th  Regiment,  Lord 
Viscount  Gosford,  the  Earl  of  Glandore,  Major 
Ross,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Bulkeley  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  McCartney.1 

This  army  marched  from  Tuam  on  the  afternoon 
of  September  the  4th,  and  late  the  same  evening 
reached  Ballinlough,  about  twenty  miles  to  the 
north.  Another  day's  march  brought  it  to  Bally- 
hadireen,  where  Taylor's  brigade  was  encamped. 
At  one  o'clock  of  the  5th,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Meade  was  sent  out  by  Lake,  with  a  party  of 
dragoons,  to  reconnoitre  the  surroundings  and  dis- 
cover whether  the  rumors  of  Humbert's  departure 
from  Castlebar  were  true.  At  a  hamlet  between 
Ballyhadireen  and  Ballahy,  an  advanced  patrol  of 
the  reconnoiterers  captured  a  rebel,  from  whom 
they  learned  that  the  French  were  on  the  march 
northward.  This  information  being  communicated 
to  General  Lake,  Meade  was  ordered  to  carry  it  to 

1  General  Lake's  Letter  to  Colonel  Taylor,  Sept.  8,  1798. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  yg8.  12 I 

Lord  Cornwallis  at  Hollymount.  When  within 
fifteen  miles  of  Castlebar,  Meade's  dragoons  fell 
in  with  a  large  detachment  of  insurgents,  posted 
on  a  row  of  hillocks  extending  down  to  a  bog. 
The  foremost  horsemen,  without  waiting  for  their 
superiors'  orders,  dashed  at  a  party  of  pikemen 
stationed  at  a  bridge,  and  very  nearly  brought  on 
a  general  conflict,  which  would  doubtless  have 
proved  disastrous  to  the  colonel's  mission.  Meade, 
with  great  presence  of  mind,  spurred  to  the  front 
and  ordered  a  halt,  and  perceiving  that  the  rebels 
were  acting  in  a  half-hearted  manner,  offered  them 
favorable  conditions  of  surrender,  which  many  ac- 
cepted. The  poor  wretches  had  deserted  from  the 
French,  and  were  suffering  the  pangs  of  hunger  and 
the  anguish  of  apprehension.  About  sixty  muskets 
were  surrendered  to  the  English,  after  which  the 
prisoners  were  allowed  to  depart  in  peace.  Near 
Swineford,  Meade  turned  to  the  south,  and  between 
Clare  and  Ballyhanis  met  the  lord-lieutenant,  who, 
having  been  informed  while  at  Hollymount  of  the 
evacuation  of  Castlebar,  was  now  on  his  way  to  the 
northeast  to  cooperate  with  General  Lake's  division 
in  an  advance  on  the  French  rear. 

Rain  fell  in  torrents  when  Humbert's  army  began 
its  march,  and  the  difficulties  of  the  advance  were 
increased  tenfold  by  the  muddy  condition  of  the 
highways.  Reports,  unfortunately  too  true,  of  the 
hourly  growth  of  the  enemy's  forces,  served  to  act 
as  a  damper  on  the  spirits  of  the  Irish  allies,  and 


122  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

those  who  had  clamored  loudest  for  the  extinction 
of  their  Protestant  fellow-citizens  now  dropped  out 
by  degrees  from  the  marching  ranks,  and  took 
themselves  off  to  a  place  of  safety.  The  deser- 
tions, in  fact,  became  so  frequent  and  general,  that 
a  guard  of  French  soldiers  was  finally  placed  on  the 
flanks  and  the  rear  of  the  Irish  column,  to  check 
them  as  far  as  possible. 

The  first  halt  of  the  army  was  at  a  place  called 
Barleyfield,  the  seat  of  a  wealthy  land-owner 
named  McManus.  Here  the  French  requisitioned 
some  provisions  to  be  sent  on  to  Swineford,  which 
place  the  army  entered  early  on  the  evening  of 
the  4th.  Humbert  remained  unremittingly  in  the 
midst  of  his  troops,  not  even  leaving  them  to  par- 
take of  his  meals  under  cover  of  a  farm-house. 
From  Swineford  the  army  proceeded  to  Ballahy, 
and  after  another  short  halt  continued  on  to  Tub- 
bercurry.  This  village  was  the  scene  of  the  first 
blood  shed  during  the  second  half  of  Humbert's 
campaign.  The  Corrailiney  and  Coolavin  yeoman 
cavalry,  under  Captain  O'Hara,  advanced  to  meet 
the  PVench  at  the  outskirts  of  the  place,  and  were 
driven  into  flight  after  a  short  engagement.  The 
British  lost  one  man  killed,  several  wounded,  and 
two  prisoners,  Captain  Russell  and  Lieutenant 
Knott.  At  Tubbercurry  the  French  were  joined 
by  a  considerable  body  of  rebels  who  had  marched 
across  the  mountains  from  Ballina.  They  brought 
with     them      some    Protestant    prisoners.      These 


w 


COLONEL   CHARLES   VEREKER. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  %98.  1^3 

Humbert  immediately  sent  back  for  the  same  rea- 
sons that  had  induced  him  to  liberate  their  breth- 
ren at  Castlebar. 

The  march  was  uninterrupted  after  this  until  the 
army  arrived,  on  the  5th,  at  Colooney,  a  romantic 
village  on  the  banks  of  the  river  of  the  same  name, 
ten  miles  to  the  south  of  the  flourishing  sea-port  of 
Sligo.  The  garrison  of  the  latter  place  numbered 
six  hundred  men  of  all  arms,  under  Colonel  Charles 
Vereker,  who,  learning  from  O'Hara  of  the  ap- 
proach of  the  French,  marched  out  against  them 
with  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  Limerick  City 
Militia,  twenty  of  the  Essex  Fencible  Infantry, 
thirty  yeomen,  a  troop  of  the  24th  Regiment  of 
Light  Dragoons  and  two  curricle  guns.  The  inhab- 
itants of  Sligo,  in  the  mean  time,  became  a  prey 
to  the  greatest  consternation,  expecting  to  witness 
scenes  of  rapine  and  plunder  in  their  very  midst  ; 
and  their  fears  were  not  unjustified  either,  for  the 
town  contained  property  valued  at  several  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  and  its  harbor  was  filled  with 
vessels  of  every  size  and  description.  In  other 
words,  it  offered  many  temptations  to  a  hostile 
force. 

According  to  the  colonel's  own  account,  when  he 
arrived  within  sight  of  Colooney,  at  about  half-past 
two  on  the  5th,  he  found  the  French  posted  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  town  ready  to  receive  him. 
His  left  was  sufficiently  protected  by  the  river,  and 
in  order  to  secure  his  right  he  sent    Major  Ormsby 


124  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

with  one  hundred  men  to  occupy  a  neighboring 
eminence.  The  action  that  followed  was  obsti- 
nately contested.  Vereker,  with  a  boldness  out  of 
all  proportion  to  his  numerical  strength,  moved 
forward  on  the  foe  along  the  whole  line,  and  for  a 
while  succeeded  in  maintaining  himself.  But  the 
French  reserves  presently  came  up,  and  Humbert 
was  enabled  to  outflank  the  British  right  and  drive 
Ormsby  and  his  men  into  the  plain  beyond.  Fresh 
bodies  of  troops  were  then  thrown  upon  Vereker's 
right  flanks  with  a  view  to  surrounding  him  and  forc- 
ing him  to  surrender,  with  the  alternative  of  being 
driven  into  the  water.  The  gallant  Englishman, 
who  had  already  received  a  painful  wound,  discov- 
ered the  purpose  of  his  adversary,  and  having  ex- 
pended nearly  all  his  ammunition  ordered  a  retreat. 
The  British  left  the  field  in  good  order,  covered  by 
their  cavalry  under  Captain  Whistler,  who  experi- 
enced the  satisfaction  of  repulsing  a  charge  of  the 
French  Chasseurs.  Notwithstanding  the  exertions 
of  Captain  Slessor,  of  the  Royal  Irish  Artillery, 
the  two  guns  had  to  be  abandoned  in  consequence 
of  the  killing  of  one  of  the  horses.  However, 
as  the  ammunition  wagon  and  entire  gun  harness 
were  saved,  the  cannon  proved  of  little  use  to 
the  French.  The  casualties  on  the  British  side 
amounted  to  one  officer  killed  and  five  officers  and 
twenty-two  rank  and  file  wounded.  The  French 
loss  was  twenty  killed  and  thirty  wounded,  and 
the   rebels,  who    fought   much   better    on  this    oc- 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  1 25 

casion  than  at  Castlebar,  also  suffered  to  some  ex- 
tent.' 

Humbert  was  not  backward  in  paying  a  just  tri- 
bute to  the  pluck  and  energy  of  Colonel  Vereker.2 
He  openly  expressed  his  admiration  of  the  mas- 
terly manner  in  which  the  British  troops  had  been 
handled  during  the  engagement,  and  declared  the 
colonel  to  be  the  only  man  he  had  encountered  in 
Ireland  capable  of  leading  fifty  men  into  battle. 
The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  French  and 
British  commanders  at  Colooney  each  miscalculated 
the  strength  of  his  opponent.  Vereker  imagined 
himself  to  be  dealing  merely  with  the  advanced 
guard  of  the  French  army,  while  Humbert  was  led 
to  believe  that  he  had  repulsed  the  van  of  a  more 
formidable  force.  Expecting  another  attack  the 
French  general  remained  on  the  field  for  some 
hours,  forming  the  rear  columns  for  action  as  they 
came  up,  and  then  when  no  enemy  appeared  he 
turned  to  the  east,  following  the  high-road  to 
Manor  Hamilton,  in  the  county  of  Leitrim. 

Thus  Sligo  was  saved  from  a  hostile  occupation, 
which  was  all  the  more  unexpected  as  half  an  hour 
after  the  commencement  of  the  fight  at  Colooney  a 
number  of  fugitives  entered  the  town,  announcing 
that    the    English  had    been    beaten    and    that   the 

1  These  figures  are  from  Vereker's  report.  No  French  account 
of  this  engagement  is  in  existence. 

2  Vereker  afterward  became  Viscount  Gort,  and  was  permitted  to 
adopt  as  his  motto  the  word  "  Colooney." 


126  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

French  were  advancing.  The  Protestant  population 
was  seized  with  a  panic,  and  a  stampede  occurred 
to  the  harbor,  where  thousands  of  men,  women  and 
children  boarded  the  ships  in  the  hopes  of  at  least 
saving  their  lives.  A  few  hundreds  of  the  younger 
men,  however,  secured  matchlocks  and  pikes,  with 
the  determination  of  defending  their  homes  at  any- 
cost,  and  their  efforts  were  ably  seconded  by  the 
Protestant  clergy.  The  military  who  had  been  left 
behind  by  Colonel  Vereker,  under  Colonel  Sparrow, 
occupied  the  avenues  leading  to  the  town,  and  had 
the  French  appeared  some  desperate  street  fighting 
would  have  resulted.  As  it  was,  after  an  anxious 
night  orderlies  arrived  from  Colonel  Vereker  with 
the  welcome  intelligence  that  the  French  had  aban- 
doned their  designs  on  Sligo,  and  the  Protestants 
once  more  breathed  freely. 

General  Lake,  in  compliance  with  the  lord-lieu- 
tenant's instructions,  was  meanwhile  pressing  close 
on  the  rear  of  Humbert's  army.  From  Ballyhadi- 
reen  he  marched  on  the  afternoon  of  the  5th  with 
his  combined  forces  to  Ballahy,  through  which  place 
he  learned  the  French  had  passed  the  preceding 
evening  at  about  seven  o'clock.  He  marched 
onward  without  further  delay,  and  entered  Tub- 
bercurry  at  seven.  He  found  Colonel  Crawford 
awaiting  him  here  with  the  Hompeschers  and  the 
Roxburgh  Fencible  Cavalry,  and  henceforth  this  de- 
tachment acted  as  the  advance  guard  of  the  army. 
The  services  they  rendered  in  harassing  the  French 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'g8.  1 27 

were  invaluable,  but  their  course  was  marked  by  the 
most  revolting  acts  of  barbarity.  They  took  no 
prisoners  under  any  circumstances,  but  cut  down  in 
cold  blood  all  stragglers  from  Humbert's  Irish  con- 
tingent, and  even  entire  bodies  of  the  rebels  who 
offered  to  surrender.  Thus  for  miles  and  miles  the 
road  in  the  wake  of  the  French  army  was  strewn 
with  the  dead  and  dying,  farm-houses  and  private 
dwellings  in  the  vicinity  were  reduced  to  ashes,  and 
devastation  was  spread  all  over  a  lately  prosperous 
country.  When  the  British  force  reached  Colooney, 
whence  Humbert  had  departed  a  short  while  before, 
a  number  of  wounded  French  were  discovered  in  a 
barn  under  the  care  of  a  surgeon.  These  experi- 
enced good  treatment;  but  a  Longford  deserter  who 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Hompeschers  received 
short  shrift,  and  his  body,  riddled  with  bullets,  was 
marched  over  by  the  entire  army. 

To  accelerate  his  movements  the  French  general, 
after  leaving  Colooney,  threw  two  pieces  of  cannon 
into  a  ditch  and  five  more  into  the  river  at  Droma- 
haire,  a  hamlet  on  the  border  of  Leitrim.  Craw- 
ford was  close  upon  his  rear,  and  shots  were  con- 
stantly being  exchanged  between  pursuers  and 
pursued.  All  this  while  the  ranks  of  the  Irish 
auxiliaries  continued  to  thin  out  by  desertion, 
superinduced  by  fear  of  summary  vengeance ;  so 
that  forty-eight  hours  after  the  evacuation  of  Cas- 
tlebar  scarcely  half  of  their  number  remained  with 
the  army.     The  discipline  of   the   French   soldiers 


128  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

under  all  these  trying  circumstances  maintained  it- 
self in  a  most  effectual  manner.  Neither  lack  of 
food  and  rest,  nor  the  fading  hope  of  ultimate 
success  could  dampen  their  ardor.  Their  march 
partook  of  the  character  of  a  running  fight,  de- 
void of  one  hour's  respite  from  toil  and  danger, 
and  at  times  the  enemy's  cavalry  would  approach 
near  enough  to  occasion  a  hand-to-hand  conflict,  in 
which,  while  invariably  victorious,  the  French  al- 
ways sacrificed  one  or  more  of  their  meagre  force. 
Within  a  few  miles  of  Manor  Hamilton  Humbert 
learned  of  the  concentration  of  rebel  troops  around 
the  town  of  Granard,  and  conceiving  at  last  that  his 
only  remaining  hope  lay  in  attaining  this  point, 
whereby  he  would  gain  a  strategical  position  of 
great  value  between  the  royal  army  and  Dublin,  he 
wheeled  to  the  right  and  directed  his  steps  toward 
the  south. 

The  same  scenes  that  had  marked  his  progress 
from  Colooney  attended  the  latter  portion  of  the 
march.  Crawford  still  hung  obstinately  on  his  rear, 
and  harassed  him  unceasingly  with  feints  and  par- 
tial attacks.  Between  Drumshambo  and  Ballyna- 
more,  however,  the  English  officer  overstepped  the 
bounds  of  caution  and  made  a  general  attack,  which 
resulted  disastrously  for  him,  many  of  his  men 
being  killed  or  wounded  and  the  remainder  put 
to  flight.  Humbert  was  only  prevented  from  sur- 
rounding the  British  on  this  occasion  by  the  mis- 
taken idea  that  he  was  engaged  with  Lake's  entire 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  1 29 

army.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  7th  the  French 
passed  the  River  Shannon  at  Ballintra,  but  so  close 
was  the  pursuit  that  they  were  unable  to  destroy 
the  bridge,  as  had  been  their  intention.  The  pow- 
der used  by  Fontaine,  who  had  charge  of  the  opera- 
tion, proved  insufficient  for  the  purpose,  and  only  a 
slight  break  was  made,  which  the  British  afterward 
repaired  with  the  ruins  of  an  adjacent  house.  At 
nightfall  the  French  arrived  at  Cloone,  and  such 
was  the  exhausted  condition  of  his  men  that  Hum- 
bert found  himself  forced  to  give  them  a  couple  of 
hours'  rest. 

It  was  at  Cloone  that  he  received  details  of  the 
progress  of  affairs  in  Longford  and  Westmeath.  A 
delegation  of  insurgents  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Granard  informed  him  that  this  post  had  been  inef- 
fectually assailed  by  6,000  men  on  the  morning  of 
the  5th,  and  that  the  following  day  the  patriot 
armies  had  experienced  a  similar  check  at  Wil- 
son's Hospital  in  Westmeath.  Still,  they  declared 
that  there  was  no  reason  to  abandon  hope,  for 
though  unsuccessful  in  their  first  efforts,  the  insur- 
gents were  in  nowise  discomfited,  and,  fully  10,000 
strong,  were  feverishly  awaiting  the  appearance  of 
their  allies,  the  French.  The  spokesman  of  this 
delegation  is  described  by  Fontaine  as  being  armed 
from  head  to  foot  with  a  large  variety  of  weapons, 
and  bearing  in  a  general  way  a  not  remote  resem- 
blance to  the  bold  knights-errant  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  very  long- 
9 


I30  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

winded  and  loquacious  individual,  for  the  same 
writer  attributes  the  fatal  delay  at  Cloone  solely 
to  these  unnecessary  pourparlers.  From  English 
sources  one  learns  of  another  cause  for  this  loss  of 
time.  It  was  the  first  opportunity  the  French  had 
had  of  closing  their  eyes  in  sleep  during  four  long- 
days  and  nights.  Every  minute  of  that  period  had 
been  one  of  anxiety  and  toil.  Humbert  appears  to 
have  given  orders  that  he  and  his  officers  should 
be  awakened  at  the  end  of  two  hours,  but  the  guard 
let  them  sleep  four,  and  thus  the  British  army 
came  nearer  than  he  expected.  But  for  the  loss  of 
that  two  hours  the  French  might  have  succeeded  in 
reaching  Granard,  and  then  Cornwallis'  plans  would 
have  been  upset.1 

General  Lake  approached  Cloone  a  little  before 
sunrise  on  September  8th.  He  had  intended  to 
surprise  the  French  during  the  night,  but  in  the 
darkness  some  of  the  divisions  of  his  army  missed 
their  route.  The  English  entered  Cloone  on  one 
side  as  the  French  withdrew  on  the  other. 

Lord  Cornwallis  was  on  the  high-road  between 
Hollymount  and  Carrick-on-Shannon,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  7th,  when  an  officer  from  Lake's  division 
informed  him  of  Humbert's  change  of  front.  The 
lord-lieutenant  immediately  guessed  his  adversa- 
ry's intention,  and  while  hastening  his  own  march 
to  Carrick,  directed  Major-General  Moore— who 
had  in  the  mean  time  been  sent  to  Tubbercurry — 

1  Jones'  Narrative,  page  324. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  yg8.  I31 

to  prepare  himself  for  a  possible  movement  against 
the  town  of  Boyle.1  Arriving  at  Carrick  in  the 
.  evening,  Lord  Cornwallis  learned  that  the  French 
had  already  passed  the  Shannon  at  Ballintra,  and 
were  bivouacked  at  Cloone.  Accordingly  at  ten 
o'clock  the  same  night  he  marched  with  his  entire 
force  to  Mohill,  ten  miles  further  west,  where  at 
daybreak  on  the  8th  he  was  confronted  with  the 
fact  that  Humbert  was  moving  toward  Granard. 
He  thereupon  sent  instructions  to  Lake  to  attack 
,  the  enemy's  rear  without  delay,  and  himself  pro- 
ceeded with  all  possible  expedition  to  St.  Johns- 
town, through  which  place,  on  account  of  the 
breaking  down  of  a  bridge,  the  French  would 
necessarily  have  to  pass  in  order  to  reach  their 
destination.     (See  map.) 

In  compliance  with  his  instructions,  General 
Lake,  after  reaching  Cloone,  redoubled  his  efforts 
to  force  Humbert  to  an  engagement.  He  mounted 
five  flank  companies  of  militia,  viz.;  the  Dublin, 
Armagh,  Monaghan,  Tipperary  and  Kerry,  behind 
the  Hompeschers  and  Roxburghs,  and  started  them 
off  against  the  worn-out  foe.  When  the  pursuers 
drew  near,  the  infantry  dismounted  and  kept  up  an 
incessant  fire,  and,  aided  by  the  cavalry,  obliged  the 
retreating  troops  to  slacken  their  pace.  Seeing  that 
a  battle  was  unavoidable,  the  French  general  finally 
brought  his  men  to  a  standstill  and  made  the  neces- 
sary preparations.     Defeat  stared  him  in  the  face, 

JSee  Cornwallis'  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Portland,  September  g,  179S. 


I32  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

but,  as  on  former  occasions,  he  was  resolved  to  up- 
hold the  honor  of  his  country's  flag  at  any  sacrifice. 
With  his  usual  coolness  in  moments  of  danger,  he 
addressed  a  few  words  of  encouragement  to  the 
brave  men  who  had  stood  by  him  through  the  long 
period  of  trials  and  perils,  and  exhorted  them  to  do 
their  duty  to  the  very  last.  He  posted  the  army  on 
a  hill  near  the  hamlet  of  Ballinamuck,  four  miles 
from  Cloone,  and  the  same  distance  from  Mohill. 
His  left  was  partly  protected  by  a  bog,  and  his 
right  by  another  bog  and  a  lake.  The  position  was 
altogether  as  advantageous  a  one  as  could  have  been 
selected  under  the  circumstances,  but  the  enormous 
numerical  superiority  of  the  English  reduced  Hum- 
bert's chances,  even  of  escape,  to  absolutely  nothing. 

At  the  very  commencement  of  the  action  a  most 
regrettable  incident  occurred,  for  which  no  satisfac- 
tory explanation  has  ever  been  given.  General  Sar- 
razin,  who  during  the  entire  campaign  had  distin- 
guished himself  beyond  all  praise,  was  suddenly  seen 
to  gallop  down  the  first  line  of  the  rear  division, 
flourishing  his  cap  on  the  point  of  his  sword,  as 
a  signal  of  surrender ;  whereupon  the  division 
grounded  their  arms.1 

At  this  moment  the  Earl  of  Roden  and  Colonel 
Crawford  advanced  with  their  cavalry,  and  perceiv- 
ing the  movement  in  the  French  lines  ordered  the 
trumpet  to  sound.  It  was  answered  on  the  French 
side,  and  two  British  officers  riding  forward  alone, 

J  C.  H.  Teeling's  Personal  Narrative,  etc.,  page  227. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'gS.  1 33 

a  parley  ensued.  The  Englishmen  demanded  the 
immediate  surrender  of  the  French  army.  Sarra- 
zin  replied  that  the  matter  must  be  referred  to  the 
commander-in-chief,  then  stationed  some  distance 
behind  on  the  Ballinamuck  road  with  the  main 
body. 

While  this  conversation  was  in  progress,  General 
Taylor  mistakenly  informed  General  Lake  that  the 
French  army  had  capitulated,  and  the  British  com- 
mander then  despatched  the  "  lieutenant-general  of 
ordnance,"  Captain  Packenham,  and  Major-General 
Craddock  to  receive  Humbert's  sword.  The  officers 
rode  over  to  Humbert's  line,  but,  to  their  conster- 
nation, were  received  with  a  volley  which  wounded 
Craddock  in  the  shoulder.1  Then  it  became  clear 
that  some  misunderstanding  had  occurred.  It  ap- 
pears that  Humbert,  upon  learning  of  his  subor- 
dinate's parley  with  the  enemy,  burst  into  a  fit  of 
indignation,  and,  repudiating  any  idea  of  surrender, 
ordered  the  advance  at  double-quick.  Lord  Roden 
had  by  this  time  induced  Sarrazin  to  capitulate, 
and  Crawford,  confident  of  meeting  no  further 
opposition,  had  advanced  on  the  French  lines  with 
a  body  of  dragoons.  In  a  moment  all  was  changed. 
Humbert's  Grenadiers  rushed   at  the  dragoons  and 

1  An  eye-witness  of  these  events,  whose  letter  appears  in  Saunders' 
Newsletter,  Dublin,  in  September,  1798,  declares  that  this  volley- 
was  fired  by  a  body  of  Irish  rebels  whom  Craddock,  in  his  kindness 
of  heart,  was  urging  to  throw  down  their  arms  and  flee,  well  knowing 
that  no  mercy  "would  be  shown  to  them  by  the  vindictive  Lake. 


134  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

made  them  prisoners,  together  with  their  two  lead- 
ers, while  the  rest  of  the  horse,  savagely  attacked  on 
two  sides,  scampered  away  with  precipitation. 

Now  the  action  became  general.  Lake,  attempt- 
ing to  imitate  Humbert's  tactics  at  Colooney,  threw 
a  column  of  troops  on  the  right  of  the  French,  with 
a  view  to  outflanking  them.  Perceiving  this  Hum- 
bert withdrew  his  main  body  from  the  hill  to 
another  eminence  further  back.  The  British  artil- 
lery was  then  moved  to  the  front;  but  when  Lake 
saw  a  large  body  of  stalwart  pikemen  form  into  a 
solid  column  for  the  purpose  of  charging  the  guns, 
he  ordered  the  latter  withdrawn  and  continued  the 
battle  with  infantry  and  cavalry.  On  the  brow  of  a 
hill,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  spot  where  Sar- 
razin  had  surrendered,  a  number  of  French  tirail- 
leurs were  posted  with  some  artillery,  and  these  did 
much  execution  in  the  ranks  of  the  British  right. 
The  English  general  himself  at  one  moment  came 
within  range  of  their  fire,  and  narrowly  escaped  with 
his  life.  After  a  good  deal  of  firing  on  both  sides, 
he  at  last  ordered  his  light  infantry  and  cavalry  to 
ascend  the  hill  from  two  points,  which  they  did 
with  enthusiasm  ;  but  not  until  every  tirailleur  had 
either  been  killed,  wounded  or  made  prisoner,  was 
the  French  cannon  finally  silenced  and  the  battle 
won. 

During  the  whole  conflict  Humbert  maintained 
his  reputation  as  a  skilful  leader  and  a  brave  man. 
Unwilling  to  survive  defeat,  he  threw  himself  in  the 


OF  IRELAND  IN  >98.  135 

midst  of  the  enemy,  sword  in  hand,  and  but  for  the 
intervention  of  his  aide-de-camp,  Teeling,  he  would 
probably  have  been  killed  by  the  dragoons,  who 
bore  him  down  from  his  saddle.  Lord  Roden  and 
Colonel  Crawford  remained  prisoners  in  the  midst 
of  a  body  of  chasseurs  until  the  Roxburgh  Fenci- 
bles  came  up  in  search  of  their  colonel.  The  French 
officers,  realizing  then  that  further  resistance  would 
only  lead  to  the  useless  sacrifice  of  many  valuable 
lives,  surrendered  their  swords  and  ordered  the 
firing  to  cease. 

As  far  as  the  French  were  concerned  the  battle 
was  ended.  But  now  the  most  horrible  act  in  the 
drama  was  to  be  played.  The  unfortunate  rebels, 
who  still  numbered  several  hundreds,  expecting  no 
quarter,  fought  on  with  the  frenzy  of  despair. 
Driven  from  the  guns  which  they  had  helped  to 
serve,  not  without  loss  to  the  foe,  they  fled  into  a 
bog  and  were  here  surrounded  by  horse,  foot  and 
artillery.  Lake's  hour  of  revenge  had  sounded,  and 
he  made  full  use  of  his  opportunity.  Raked  with  a 
galling  cross-fire  from  all  points,  sabred  by  the 
horsemen  and  bayoneted  by  the  infantry,  there  soon 
remained  but  a  skeleton  of  the  solid  column  that 
had  stood  side  by  side  with  Humbert's  troops  at  the 
beginning  of  the  battle  ;  and  those  who  finally  were 
allowed  to  lay  down  their  arms  only  exchanged  the 
bullet  or  sword  for  the  rope.  Here  is  what  one 
eye-witness  has  written  : 

"  We  pursued  the  rebels   through    the   bog — the 


I36  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

country  was  covered  for  miles  around  with  their 
slain.  We  remained  for  a  few  days  burying  the 
dead — hung  General  Blake  and  nine  of  the  Longford 
militia ;  we  brought  one  hundred  and  thirteen  pris- 
oners to  Carrick-on-Shannon,  nineteen  of  whom  we 
executed  in  one  day,  and  left  the  remainder  for 
others  to  follozv  our  example!  " 

"  They  are  hanging  rebels  here  by  twenties  to- 
gether," wrote  an  officer  of  the  Reay  Fencibles  to 
his  friends.  "  It  is  a  melancholy  sight,  but  neces- 
sary." 

And  here  are  another  eye-witness'  words  :  "  There 
lay  dead  about  five  hundred  ;  I  went  next  day  with 
many  others  to  see  them  ;  how  awful !  to  see  that 
heathy  mountain  covered  with  dead  bodies,  resem- 
bling at  a  distance  flocks  of  sheep — for  numbers 
were  naked  and  swelled  with  the  weather.  We 
found  fifteen  of  the  Longford  militia  among  the 
slain." 

General  Richard  Blake,  referred  to  above,  was  a 
gentleman  of  Galway  who  had  joined  the  patriot 
cause  shortly  before  the  battle  of  Castlebar,  and  had 
commanded  a  division  of  Irish  auxiliaries  during 
the  later  operations.  His  request  to  die  by  the 
bullet  instead  of  the  rope  was  denied.  He  bore  his 
fate  with  the  dignity  of  a  hero,  as  did  likewise 
one  O'Dowd,  another  rebel  of  prominence.  As  the 
executions  were  proceeding  on  the  battle-field,  one 
of  the  doomed  Longford  militiamen  demanded  the 
reason    for   his    condemnation.     He  was  told   that 


I 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  137 

death  was  the  punishment  for  desertion  provided  by 
the  military  code.  "  Desertion  indeed  ! "  was  the 
reply.  "It  seems  to  me  the  men  who  ran  away 
from  Castlebar  were  the  real  deserters,  and  not  I. 
They  took  to  their  heels  without  attempting  to 
fight,  and  left  me  behind  to  be  murdered  by  the 
French."  The  force  of  the  argument  impressed  it- 
self on  Lord  Jocelin,  who  was  standing  by,  and  he 
interceded  with  success  for  the  man's  life.1 

Humbert  was  conducted  before  the  English  gen- 
eral immediately  after  his  surrender.  "  Where  is 
your  army  ?  "  asked  Lake,  surprised  at  the  small 
number  of  his  opponents.  "  There  it  is  yonder," 
coolly  replied  Humbert,  pointing  to  a  group  of 
fagged-out  men  and  horses  in  the  background ; 
"  there  you  have  my  entire  force."  "  And  what  did 
you  propose  doing  ?  "  asked  Lake.  Humbert  seized 
the  opportunity  to  indulge  in  one  of  his  favorite 
fanfaronades :  "  I  proposed  marching  on  to  Dub- 
lin," he  answered,  drawing  himself  up  in  a  theatrical 
attitude,  "  there  to  rend  asunder  the  chains  of  those 
who  are  suffering  beneath  your  tyrannical  yoke !  " 
Lake  shrugged  his  shoulders,  with  the  remark : 
"  Such  a  project  could  only  find  birth  in  a  French- 
man's brain."  He  thereupon  ordered  the  French 
general  to  be  taken  to  the  lord-lieutenant,  at  St. 
Johnstown.2 

The  return  of  prisoners  showed  the  French  army 

1  Sir  Jonah  Harrington's  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Irish  Nation. 

2  Fontaine's  Notice  Historique. 


138  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

to  have  been  reduced  to  96  officers  and  746  men, 
with  100  horses  and  three  field  guns  ;  and  of  these 
survivors  many  were  sick  and  wounded,  or  disabled 
by  incessant  marching.  The  brave  men  had  marched 
almost  a  hundred  English  miles  since  the  day  of 
their  departure  from  Castlebar.  Their  actual  loss 
at  Ballinamuck  has  never  been  definitely  ascer- 
tained ;  that  of  the  British  has  officially  been  placed 
at  three  men  killed,  twelve  wounded,  and  three 
missing,  although  there  are  reasons  for  believing 
that  the  figures  were  considerably  higher. 

The  treatment  of  the  French  prisoners  reflects 
credit  on  the  British  military  authorities.  They 
received  many  attentions  and  courtesies  on  all  sides, 
and  at  Longford  the  officers  were  entertained  at  a 
sumptuous  banquet.  Expressing  his  surprise  at  the 
rejoicings  and  illuminations  in  the  streets  over  the 
"victory,"  Adjutant-General  Fontaine  obtained  the 
explanation,  sotto  voce,  from  an  English  officer,  that 
his  countrymen  were  really  "illuminating  their  own 
stupidity  and  the  triumphs  of  the  French."  The 
prisoners  were  sent  to  Dublin  by  the  Grand  Canal, 
and,  as  steam  was  unknown  in  those  days,  their 
journey  lasted  nearly  a  week.  They  travelled  on 
six  large  barges,  the  first  one  carrying  the  escort  of 
Fermanagh  militia  with  a  full  military  band,  the 
second  one  the  captive  officers,  and  the  remainder 
the  rank  and  file.  Nothing,  according  to  contem- 
porary accounts,  could  exceed  the  nonchalance  and 
merriment  with  which  the  French  bore  their  situa- 


OF  IRELAND  IN  '98.  139 

tion.  They  seemed  to  consider  that,  having  fully 
performed  their  duty  as  patriots  and  soldiers,  they 
had  every  reason  to  congratulate  themselves  on  the 
conclusion  of  a  most  trying  and  ungrateful  task;  so 
they  were  constantly  collecting  in  parties,  convers- 
ing with  the  utmost  gayety,  playing  cards,  dancing, 
and  above  all,  singing  the  Marseillaise. 

In  Dublin — although,  for  prudential  reasons,  the 
prisoners  were  not  allowed  to  show  themselves  in 
public — they  were  frequently  complimented  for  their 
conduct  during  the  campaign,  and  at  their  arrival 
in  Liverpool  an  immense  crowd  gathered  to  greet 
them  with  many  manifestations  of  friendliness.  At 
Litchfield,  where  the  officers  were  temporarily  quar- 
tered, General  Humbert  was  actually  visited  by  a 
deputation  of  clergymen,  headed  by  no  less  a  per- 
son than  the  Lord  Bishop,  a  brother  of  Cornwallis, 
who  expressed  their  gratitude  for  the  protection 
extended  by  him  to  the  Protestants  of  Connaught. 

Humbert's  first  request  to  the  British  authorities 
was  that  his  Irish  officers  receive  considerate  treat- 
ment. He  could  offer  no  reason  for  leniency  on  be- 
half of  those  who  had  taken  up  arms  against  the 
Crown  after  the  arrival  of  the  invaders,  but  he  in- 
sisted all  the  more  on  immunity  for  such  as  had 
come  over  from  France  and  held  commissions  in 
the  French  army.  Particularly  solicitous  was  he 
about  Teeling,  his  aide-de-camp.  On  this  subject 
Teeling's  brother  has  written  feelingly,  as  follows: 
"  After  the  surrender  of  the   French  army  a  cartel 


140  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

was  concluded  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  under 
which  General  Humbert,  with  the  residue  of  his 
forces,  was  to  proceed  to  France.  The  most  bitter 
regret  was  evinced  by  the  French  general  in  finding 
that  Teeling  was  not  to  derive  the  benefit  of  this 
arrangement.  The  latter,  as  already  observed,  had 
surrendered  prisoner  of  war  when  his  general  was 
captured.  His  person  was  easily  identified ;  recent 
circumstances  had  made  him  known  to  General 
Lake  ;  but  (and  I  mention  this  circumstance  with 
a  feeling  of  gratitude  and  admiration),  though  be- 
tween him  and  several  of  the  British  officers  on  the 
field  an  early  and  familiar  intercourse  had  subsisted, 
they  had  the  generosity,  under  his  present  circum- 
stances, not  to  make  any  recognition.  On  taking 
muster  of  the  French  officers  he  was  set  apart  and 
claimed  as  a  British  subject  by  General  Lake. 
Humbert  remonstrated ;  he  demanded  his  officer  in 
the  name  of  the  French  Government ;  he  protested 
against  what  he  conceived  a  breach  of  national 
honor  and  of  the  law  of  arms.  '  I  will  not  part  with 
him,'  he  exclaimed  with  violent  emotion.  '  An  hour 
ago,  and  ere  this  had  occurred  he  should  have  per- 
ished in  the  midst  of  us  with  a  rampart  of  French 
bayonets  around  him !  I  will  accompany  him  to 
prison  or  to  death.'  And  this  generous  soldier  did 
accompany  his  aide-de-camp  to  Longford  prison, 
where  he  remained  till  the  following  day,  when  the 
French  prisoners  were  conveyed  to  the  capital,  and 
thence  embarked  with  the   least   possible   delay  on 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'g8.  I4I 

board  transports  for  England.  Teeling  was  re- 
moved to  Dublin  to  be  tried  by  court-martial. 
Matthew  Tone,  who  had  been  arrested  the  day 
after  the  battle,  was  also  recognized  as  an  Irishman 
and  retained  for  trial." 

Teeling  was  brought  to  trial  for  high  treason  less 
than  two  weeks  after  his  capture,  and,  notwith- 
standing the  many  proofs  adduced  of  his  kindness 
to  loyal  prisoners  and  his  strict  observance  of  the 
rules  of  civilized  warfare,  he  was  condemned  to 
death  as  a  traitor  to  his  country.  Humbert,  on 
board  the  Va?i  Tromp,  wrote  a  touching  letter  of 
appeal  to  the  president  of  the  court-martial  two 
days  before  the  commencement  of  the  trial,  from 
which  the  following  is  extracted : 

"  Teeling,  by  his  bravery  and  generous  conduct, 
has  prevented  in  all  the  towns  through  which  we 
have  passed  the  insurgents  from  proceeding  to  the 
most  criminal  excesses.  Write  to  Killala,  to  Bal- 
lina,  to  Castlebar ;  there  does  not  live  an  inhabitant 
who  will  not  render  him  the  greatest  justice.  This 
officer  is  commissioned  by  my  government;  and  all 
these  considerations,  joined  to  his  gallant  conduct 
toward  your  people,  ought  to  impress  much  in  his 
favor.  I  flatter  myself  that  the  proceedings  in  your 
court  will  be  favorable  to  him,  and  that  you  will 
treat  him  with  the  greatest  indulgence." 

Lord  Cornwallis  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  appeals 
for  clemency  on  the  unfortunate  man's  behalf,  and 
on  the  morning  of  September  24th  he  was  led  out 


142  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

from  the  Prevost  to  the  gallows  erected  on  Arbor 
Hill.  He  was  attired  in  the  full  regimentals  of  a 
French  staff-officer,  and  had  attended  to  the  details 
of  his  toilet  with  a  minuteness  bordering  on  fop- 
pery. He  wore  a  large  French  cocked  hat,  with  a 
gold  loop  and  button  and  the  tricolor  cockade,  a 
blue  surtout-coat  and  blue  pantaloons  and  half- 
boots.  Around  his  neck  was  a  white  cravat,  encir- 
cled by  a  black  stock,  very  full  and  projecting, 
which  the  executioner  presently  removed  in  order 
to  adjust  the  noose.  The  forty  minutes  that 
elapsed  between  the  doomed  man's  arrival  under 
the  fatal  beam  and  the  completion  of  the  hang- 
man's task  he  passed  in  conversation  with  Bri- 
gade-Major Sandes,  and  until  the  very  last  no 
tremor  was  perceptible  in  his  voice.  Matthew 
Tone  suffered  death  in  a  similar  manner  some  days 
afterward. 

The  fate  of  these  two  men  aroused  a  storm  of 
indignation  throughout  France,  where  they  were 
justly  considered  the  victims  of  a  breach  of  inter- 
national right.  Thomas  Paine,  the  great  freethinker, 
sent  an  appropriate  protest  to  the  Directory,  recall- 
ing the  case  of  General  Lee,  of  the  American  army, 
whom  the  English  were  only  deterred  from  hanging 
as  a  traitor  by  a  threat  of  immediate  retaliation.1 
The  writer  urged  that  the  English  officers  captured 
at  Ostend  in  the  preceding  month  of  May  be  held 
as  hostages   for   the    French    officers   of   whatever 

1  See  Appendix  for  the  letter  in  full. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  l43 

descent  that  had  fallen  intp  the  hands  of  the  en- 
emy. He  referred  more  particularly  to  the  prison- 
ers captured  on  October  12th  of  the  same  year, 
when  a  French  fleet,  destined  to  renew  Humbert's 
attempt  on  Ireland,  succumbed  to  a  superior  naval 
force  off  Lough  Swilly.  The  Directory,  however, 
in  view  of  the  disproportion  between  the  numbers 
of  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  France  and  England— 
the  balance  being  much  in  favor  of  the  latter— felt 
themselves  powerless  to  act,  and  thus  Theobald 
Wolfe  Tone,  who  accompanied  the  fourth  expedi- 
tion, fell  a  victim  to  the  same  relentless  power  that 
had  destroyed  his  brother. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

A  Second  Battle  of  Castlebar— Defeat  of  the  Insurgents— The  Three 
French  Officers  left  at  Killala— Their  Efforts  to  suppress  Relig- 
ious Persecution— Riot  and  Lawlessness  the  Order  of  the  Day — 
Advance  of  the  Royal  Armies— Battle  of  Killala. 


HILE  effectually  disposing 
of  Humbert's  "Army  of 
Ireland,"  the  surrender  of 
Ballinamuck  did  not  end 
the  era  of  bloodshed  in  the 
unfortunate  province  of  Con- 
naught.  Undismayed  by  the 
reverses  of  their  would-be 
deliverers,  the  rebels  scattered  along 
the  line  of  the  River  Moy  from 
Killala  to  Foxford  maintained  their  defiant  atti- 
tude. More  than  that,  barely  three  days  after  the 
surrender,  2,000  of  them  left  Ballina  under  the 
leadership  of  Major  O'Keon  and  Patrick  Barrett, 
a  former  member  of  the  local  militia,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  retaking  the  town  of  Castlebar,  which,  as 
stated,  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  British 
after  Humbert's  withdrawal. 


FRENCH  INVASION  OF  IRELAND.  145 

In  the  early  dawn  of  September  12th  two  citi- 
zens of  the  town,  Edward  Mayley  and  John  Dud- 
geon, while  stationed  as  pickets  in  the  northern 
suburb,  heard  the  thud  of  horses'  hoofs  approach- 
ing from  the  direction  of  the  gap  of  Barnageehy, 
and  presently  descried  two  horsemen  riding  at  a 
furious  pace.  The  pickets  sprang  into  the  middle 
of  the  road  and  challenged  the  strangers  with  a 
11  Who  goes  there  ?  "  "  A  friend,"  said  the  fore- 
most rider,  drawing  in  his  rein.  "  A  friend  to 
whom  ?  "  "  To  the  French,"  was  the  reply.  "  Oh, 
very  well,"  returned  the  pickets  ;  "  where  are  you 
going?"  The  strangers  happened  to  be  recon- 
noiterers  of  the  advancing  rebel  army,  and,  ignorant 
peasants  that  they  were,  felt  so  jubilant  at  the  dis- 
tinction conferred  upon  them  by  their  leaders  that 
they  gave  free  rein  to  their  tongues.  "  We  are 
going  to  take  Castlebar,"  they  explained ;  "  we  are 
captains,  and  there  are  2,000  men  following  within 
half  a  mile  of  us."  Scarcely  had  the  words  passed 
their  lips  when  the  pickets  seized  the  bridles  and, 
levelling  their  weapons  at  the  riders'  heads,  ordered 
them  to  deliver  up  their  arms  under  pain  of  instant 
death.  The  two  rebels,  who  had  evidently  mis- 
taken their  adversaries  for  friends,  surrendered  on 
the  spot  and  allowed  themselves  to  be  taken  as 
prisoners  into  the  town,  where  their  captors  raised 
an  immediate  alarm.  This  action  doubtless  saved 
Castlebar  from  recapture  and  probable  pillage,  for 

its   defenders   consisted    only  of   a   small    body  of 
10 


I46  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

Fraser  Fencibles,  thirty-four  armed  townsmen,  and 
a  corps  of  yeomanry  cavalry ;  an  insufficient  force 
at  any  time,  but  especially  so  when  laboring  under 
the  disadvantages  of  a  surprise. 

Here  again  it  were  better  to  insert  the  words  of 
one  of  the  badly  frightened  citizens,  some  of  whose 
reminiscences  have  already  been  quoted  in  a  pre- 
ceding chapter  :  "  They  (the  pickets)  entered  the 
town  shouting  '  Murder  !  murder  !  Arise  to  arms, 
or  you  will  be  burned  in  your  beds  !  '  This  echoed 
so  loud,  all  the  town  rung  with  it  ;  hundreds  re- 
peated it.  Men,  undressed,  rushed  into  the  streets  ; 
incessant  rain  heavily  descended  ;  the  drums  beat 
'  to  arms  !  to  arms  !  '  whilst  the  dark,  solitary  walls 
reechoed  '  to  arms  !  to  arms  ! ! ! '  At  last  the  tem- 
pest silenced  the  drum  ;  but  no  cause  could  allay 
the  vigilance  of  our  townsmen  and  the  gallant  hand- 
ful of  Frasers.  The  guards  continued  to  bring  in 
prisoners  till  morning.  At  last  welcome  day  shone 
upon  our  afflicted  town.  To  me  it  afforded  much 
consolation,  my  wife  being  in  the  pangs  of  child- 
bearing  all  night  ;  though,  I  thought,  will  light 
save  us?  No;  only  serve  to  display  our  danger. 
Thus  hope  and  apprehension  bent  alternately  the 
balance.  At  length  all  our  forebodings  are  con- 
firmed by  a  discovery  of  the  plodding  assassins, 
planted  to  great  advantage  around  the  northwest 
part  of  our  devoted  town."  ' 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  Protestant  population  that 

1  Jones'  Narrative,  page  303. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  yg8.  1 47 

their  fate  lay  in  the  hands  of  so  able  and  energetic 
an  officer  as  the  commandant,  Captain  Urquhart. 
At  the  very  first  note  of  alarm  he  assembled  his 
men  in  the  market-place,  and  assigned  them  to 
the  most  advantageous  posts  of  defence.  The  main 
body  occupied  the  market  cross,  commanding  the 
principal  avenues,  with  the  only  piece  of  cannon  in 
town ;  another  division  was  posted  between  the 
market-house  and  one  of  the  city  gates;  and  a 
third,  composed  partly  of  cavalry,  he  stationed  at 
the  north  end,  where  the  rebels  were  expected  to 
make  their  main  attack.  With  a  view  to  insuring 
the  safety  of  his  small  army  in  case  of  a  retreat, 
the  captain  placed  a  guard  of  infantry  in  a  west- 
ern street  near  the  bridge,  and  a  few  cavalrymen  at 
the  south  entrance,  on  an  eminence  opposite  the 
church. 

In  this  order  the  little  army  anxiously  awaited 
the  expected  attack,  the  issue  of  which,  consider- 
ing the  enormous  numerical  superiority  of  the  foe, 
seemed  scarcely  doubtful.  By  seven  o'clock  the 
rebels  had  concentrated  their  forces  near  the  north 
entrance  and  opened  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry  on 
the  devoted  town.  It  was  answered  with  much 
spirit  by  the  Highlanders.  The  latter,  being  under 
cover,  experienced  little  or  no  loss,  while  their  oppo- 
nents were  picked  off  by  the  dozen.  Seeing  this, 
Major  O'Keon  formed  a  column  of  assault  and 
made  a  dash  forward,  with  the  object  of  gaining 
possession    of   the  first   line  of  defence.     Smarting 


148  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

under  their  losses,  the  rebels  rushed  furiously  to 
the  attack.  Some  were  armed  with  matchlocks, 
some  with  pikes,  and  the  remainder  with  a  variety 
of  weapons  improvised  for  the  occasion.  They 
were  received  with  equal  bravery  by  the  Highland- 
ers and  townsmen,  who  for  the  time  being  re- 
mained steadfastly  within  their  defences,  firing  with 
method  and  precision.  At  last,  at  a  critical  mo- 
ment, Mr.  John  Galagher,  of  the  volunteer  corps, 
seized  by  a  sudden  impulse,  broke  from  the  ranks 
and  attacked  the  rebels  at  close  quarters.  His 
brother,  the  captain  of  the  corps,  did  likewise,  and 
their  example  was  immediately  followed  by  the  rest 
of  the  defenders  in  that  section.  So  impetuous 
was  the  charge  that  the  rebel  column  scattered 
before  it  like  chaff  and  fled  from  the  field  in  dire 
panic,  carrying  with  it  O'Keon's  reserves.  With 
the  exception  of  a  small  detachment  under  Lieu- 
tenant Denham,  which  remained  behind  to  guard 
the  town,  Urquhart  now  led  his  full  force  in  pur- 
suit of  the  fugitives.  Scores  of  these  were  cut 
down  by  the  cavalry  or  compelled  to  surrender, 
and  some  who  attempted  to  escape  by  way  of  the 
Castlebar  River  and  lake  were  engulfed  in  their 
waters. 

The  complete  defeat  of  O'Keon's  army  must  be 
regarded  as  a  blessing,  even  by  those  who  have  the 
Irish  cause  most  at  heart.  So  inflamed  were  the 
rebels  by  the  exhortations  of  their  fanatic  spiritual 
guides  and  their  desire  to  avenge  the  massacres  in 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'q8.  1 49 

Wexford  and  Kildare,  that  the  capture  of  Castle- 
bar  would  inevitably  have  been  accompanied  by  the 
wholesale  butchery  of  the  loyalist  inhabitants,  and 
that  in  spite  of  the  restraining  influence  of  O'Keon 
and  Barrett,  both  men  of  judgment  and  humanity. 
In  fact,  one  prisoner,  with  his  neck  torn  by  a  ball 
and  two  bullets  in  his  body,  confessed,  between  his 
dying  gasps,  that  it  had  been  the  intention  of 
many  of  his  associates  to  plunder  the  town  and 
destroy  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  it,  includ- 
ing even  the  loyal  Catholics !  The  feeling  of  relief 
that  pervaded  all  when  they  beheld  the  distant  hills 
swarming  with  the  flying  foe  may  therefore  well  be 
conceived. 

Before  describing  the  closing  act  of  the  drama, 
namely,  the  recapture  of  the  last  strongholds  of 
the  rebellion  along  the  River  Moy,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  dwell  at  some  length  upon  the  condition 
of  that  section  from  the  moment  that  Humbert's 
march  to  the  north  left  it  virtually  in  rebel  hands. 
Thanks  to  Bishop  Stock's  admirable  work,  so  often 
referred  to  in  these  pages,  authentic  material  is 
plentiful  on  the  subject.  When  the  two  hundred 
French  infantry  withdrew  from  Killala,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  September,  to  reenforce  the  main  army 
at  Castlebar,  there  remained  in  that  town  but  two 
officers,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Charost  and  Captain 
Ponson ;  and  they  were  joined  later  by  Captain 
Boudet,  whom  the  advance  of  a  loyal  detachment 
had  forced  from   his   station  at  Westport.     To   the 


I50  THE  TRENCH  INVASION 

united  efforts  of  these  three  heroes  may  be  attrib- 
uted the  salvation  of  the  Protestant  population 
from  what,  at  moments,  appeared  to  be  inevitable 
destruction. 

Charost  himself  was  a  man  of  charming  and  sym- 
pathetic personality.  To  many  he  will  appear  an 
even  more  interesting  figure  than  Humbert.  A 
Parisian  by  birth,  he  settled  in  San  Domingo  early 
in  life,  and  subsequently  married  well ;  but  the  war 
between  France  and  England  brought  desolation  to 
him,  as  it  had  done  to  many  others.  He  lost  all  his 
property,  and  even  his  wife  and  only  child,  who 
were  captured  while  on  their  passage  to  France, 
and  taken  to  Jamaica.  Unable  to  obtain  any  tidings 
of  them  the  poor  man  from  sheer  desperation  en- 
listed in  the  French  service,  and  worked  his  way  up 
to  a  lieutenant-colonelcy.  Generous,  humane,  and 
mild  in  manner,  but  notwithstanding  this  firm  and 
courageous  in  an  emergency,  he  soon  earned  the 
respect  of  Protestants  and  Catholics  alike.  In  re- 
ligious convictions  he  was  practically  a  freethinker. 
He  told  the  bishop  that  "  his  father  being  a  Catho- 
lic and  his  mother  a  Protestant,  they  had  left  him 
the  liberty  of  choosing  for  himself,  and  he  had 
never  yet  found  time  to  make  the  inquiry,  which, 
however,  he  was  sensible  he  ought  to  make,  and 
would  make  at  some  time,  when  Heaven  should 
grant  him  repose.  In  the  interim  he  believed  in 
God,  was  inclined  to  think  there  must  be  a  future 
state,  and  was  very  sure  that  while  he  lived  in  this 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  1$  I 

world  it  was  his  duty  to  do  all  the  good  to  his 
fellow-creatures  that  he  could."  The  well-inten- 
tioned prelate  appears  to  have  attempted  Charost's 
conversion,  but  with  indifferent  success.  He  gives 
him  credit,  however,  for  respecting  the  beliefs  of 
others,  and  taking  scrupulous  care,  among  other 
things,  that  the  divine  services  of  the  Protestants 
at  the  castle  at  Killala  should  not  be  disturbed  in 
any  manner  whatever. 

Ponson  and  Boudet,  though  each  interesting  in 
his  own  way,  lacked  some  of  the  sterling  qualities 
of  their  superior.  The  former  was  a  curious  little 
body,  not  exceeding  five  feet  six  inches  in  height,  of 
most  buoyant  temperament.  He  was  a  Navarrese 
by  birth,  "  and,"  says  the  bishop,  "  his  merry  coun- 
tenance recalled  to  mind  the  features  of  Henry  of 
Navarre,  though  without  the  air  of  benevolence 
through  them  ;  for  this  monkey  seemed  to  have  no 
great  feeling  for  anybody  but  himself.  He  was 
hardy,  and  patient  to  admiration  of  labor  and  want 
of  rest.  A  continued  watching  of  five  days  and 
nights  together,  when  the  rebels  were  growing  des- 
perate for  prey  and  mischief,  did  not  appear  to  sink 
his  spirits  in  the  smallest  degree.  He  was  ready  at 
the  smallest  notice  to  sally  out  on  the  marauders, 
whom,  if  he  caught  them  in  the  act,  he  belabored 
without  mercy  and  without  a  symptom  of  fear  for 
his  own  safety.  He  was  strictly  honest,  and  could 
not  bear  the  want  of  this  quality  in  others  ;  so  that 
his  patience  was  pretty  well  tried  by  his  Irish  allies, 


I52  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

for  whom  he  could  not  find  names  sufficiently  ex- 
pressive of  contempt." 

In  startling  contrast  to  Ponson,  Boudet,  the  later 
acquisition  to  the  French  "  garrison,"  is  described  as 
being  a  man  six  feet  two  inches  in  height.  "  In 
person,  complexion  and  gravity,"  says  the  bishop, 
"  he  was  no  inadequate  representation  of  the  Knight 
of  La  Mancha,  whose  example  he  followed  in  a 
recital  of  his  own  prowess  and  wonderful  exploits, 
delivered  in  measured  language  and  an  imposing 
seriousness  of  aspect.  His  manner,  however, 
though  distant  was  polite,  and  he  seemed  possessed 
of  more  than  common  share  of  feeling,  if  a  judg- 
ment might  be  formed  from  the  energy  with  which 
he  declaimed  on  the  miseries  of  wars  and  revolu- 
tions. His  integrity  and  courage  appeared  unques- 
tionable. On  the  whole,  when  we  became  familiar- 
ized to  his  failings,  we  saw  reason  every  day  to 
respect  his  virtues." 

Regarding  True,  the  French  officer  left  at  Bal- 
lina,  the  bishop's  verdict  is  not  so  favorable.  He 
denounces  him  as  a  man  of  evil  disposition,  lacking 
both  in  common  honesty  and  courage.  True  shared 
his  authority  with  O'Keon,  and  both  stood  under 
the  orders  of  Charost. 

The  first  problem  that  presented  itself  to  the 
commandant  after  the  departure  of  his  men  for 
the  front  related  to  the  means  of  maintaining  the 
security  of  the  large  district  intrusted  to  him,  em- 
bracing as  it  did  many  square  miles  of  rugged  coun- 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  1 53 

try,  an  extensive  seaboard,  and  the  towns  of  Killala 
and  Ballina.  This  whole  section  was  swarming  with 
the  armed  bands  of  insurgents  who  had  remained 
behind  for  the  purpose  of  plundering  the  Protestant 
landholders  in  preference  to  joining  the  French  in 
the  field.  They  numbered  several  thousands,  and 
might  have  constituted  a  sufficiently  marked  acces- 
sion of  strength  to  have  changed  the  course  of 
events.  In  consequence  -of  their  turbulence  and 
lawlessness  a  strong  guard  at  first  nightly  patrolled 
the  town  of  Killala  and  its  suburbs;  but  as  this 
measure  did  not  suffice  to  preserve  the  peace,  Char- 
ost  decided  to  offer  the  proper  means  of  self-defence 
to  every  well-disposed  citizen.  By  a  special  procla- 
mation the  inhabitants  of  both  persuasions  were 
invited  to  come  to  the  castle  and  receive  arms  and 
ammunition,  with  no  other  condition  than  the  prom- 
ise of  restoring  them  on  demand.  The  offer  was 
eagerly  accepted  by  Protestants  and  Catholics  alike, 
but  the  result  was  a  failure  after  all.  From  the  very 
first  the  insurgents  protested  against  the  arming  of 
their  loyalist  fellow-townsmen,  their  argument  being 
that  the  weapons  would  surely  be  turned  against 
themselves.  The  protestations  soon  turned  into 
menaces,  which  so  intimidated  some  of  the  Protes- 
tants that  they  returned  the  arms  on  the  very  night 
they  had  received  them.  The  insurgents,  not  satis- 
fied with  this,  adopted,  on  the  few  following  days, 
the  tactics  of  harassing  the  loyalist  minority  with 
domiciliary    visits,    ostensibly    for    the   purpose    of 


154  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

searching  for  concealed  weapons,  so  that  from  sheer 
desperation  the  unfortunates  finally  petitioned  the 
commandant  to  call  in  by  proclamation  all  the  arms 
he  had  given  out,  excepting  those  in  use  by  the  re- 
cruits for  the  French  service.  With  a  lively  appre- 
ciation of  the  situation  Charost  granted  their  re- 
quest, and  applied  himself  to  devise  another  means 
for  ending  the  depredations  that  were  terrorizing 
the  community. 

In  imitation  of  the  methods  employed  by  Hum- 
bert in  the  town  of  Castlebar,  he  issued  a  procla- 
mation some  days  later,  establishing  a  provisional 
government  over  the  district  within  his  care.  He 
divided  it  into  departments,  each  presided  over  by 
a  magistrate,  attended  by  an  armed  guard  of  sixteen 
or  twenty  men.  None  of  these  were  required  to 
declare  themselves  either  for  or  against  the  king, 
being  simply  considered  civil  officers  engaged  in  the 
service  of  keeping  the  peace.  Mr.  James  Devitt, 
a  substantial  Roman  Catholic  tradesman  of  good 
sense  and  moderation,  was  unanimously  elected  civil 
magistrate  for  Killala,  and  thenceforth  the  town 
was  regularly  policed  by  three  bodies  of  fifty  men 
each,  all  standing  directly  under  his  orders. 

However,  as  time  wore  on  the  task  of  restraining 
the  evil  passions  of  the  ignorant  multitude  became 
truly  herculean.  Covetous  eyes  were  cast  at  the 
bishop's  residence,  where,  in  addition  to  his  family, 
the  three  French  officers  were  housed.  Few  dwell- 
ings offered  more  temptations  than  his,  for  besides 


OF  IRELAND   IN  ygS.  I  $5 

his  own  property  it  contained  many  valuables  de- 
posited in  his  keeping  by  the  Protestant  inhabitants 
during  the  first  fright  occasioned  by  the  landing  of 
the  French.  For  the  defence  of  the  castle  a  guard 
about  twenty  strong  was  drawn  from  the  garrison. 
The  men  were  relieved  once  in  twenty-four  hours, 
but  even  they  constituted  a  poor  guarantee  for  the 
security  of  the  household,  imbued  as  they  were 
with  the  idea  that  all  Protestant  possessions  were 
rightfully  theirs.  At  times  the  situation  was  most 
alarming,  and  only  the  tact  and  nerve  of  the  com- 
mandant averted  the  threatened  explosion. 

On  one  occasion  a  drunken  fellow  named  Toby 
Flannigan,  who  had  promoted  himself  to  the  rank 
of  major,  arrested  a  Mr.  Goodwin,  a  Protestant,  for 
no  other  reason  than  that  he  was  a  Protestant. 
Word  of  the  affair  was  brought  to  Charost  while 
engaged  in  a  game  of  piquet  at  the  castle,  and  im- 
mediately the  whole  party  repaired  to  the  scene  of 
the  trouble.  They  found  the  "  major"  mounted  on 
his  charger,  drunk  and  vociferous,  surrounded  by  an 
admiring  mob.  Charost's  order  to  release  the  pris- 
oner was  met  by  an  impudent  refusal.  It  was  a 
critical  moment.  Failure  to  enforce  his  authority 
would  have  released  anarchy  and  all  its  attendant 
horrors.  Charost  immediately  ordered  Flannigan 
to  dismount.  There  was  a  ring  of  determination 
in  his  voice  that  brooked  no  delay.  The  culprit 
looked  at  his  adherents  for  support,  and  finding 
none  sullenly  obeyed.     Charost  with  his  own  hands 


156  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

divested  him  of  his  sword  and  pistols,  and  sent  him 
under  a  guard  of  his  own  followers  to  the  very  jail 
that  had  opened  its  doors  to  the  Protestant  victim. 
This  incident  terminated  Mr.  Toby  Flannigan's 
martial  career. 

Although  the  nominal  head  of  almost  all  Mayo, 
Charost's  personal  influence  extended,  unfortu- 
nately, little  beyond  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Killala.  At  Ballina,  thanks  to  the  supineness  or 
connivance  of  True,  the  insurgents  were  able  to 
carry  things  with  a  high  hand.  Father  Owen 
Cowley,  of  Castleconnor,  was  their  leader.  Being  a 
master  of  the  French  tongue  he  had  ingratiated 
himself  in  Truc's  favor,  and  soon  wielded  almost 
unlimited  authority  over  the  town  and  its  environs. 
His  ulterior  object  seems  to  have  been  the  extirpa- 
tion of  the  heretics,  and  in  pursuance  thereof  he 
steadily  and  deliberately  labored  to  instil  the  poison 
of  hatred  and  distrust  into  the  Frenchman's  mind. 
On  the  pretence  of  securing  the  young  republic 
against  the  machinations  of  inside  enemies,  Cowley 
sent  out  bands  of  armed  insurgents  to  arrest  and 
bring  to  town  the  Protestant  farmers  of  the  neigh- 
borhood ;  and  in  a  few  days  over  sixty  of  these 
poor  people,  after  seeing  their  houses  demolished, 
were  committed  to  a  temporary  jail  in  the  house 
of  Colonel  Henry  King.  Having  made  sure  of  his 
prey,  Cowley's  next  step  was  to- gain  permission  to 
destroy  them,  but  here  he  found  an  unexpected 
obstacle  in  the  opposition  of  O'Keon  and  Barrett. 


OF  IRELAND  IN  ygS.  I  $7 

Suspecting  the  priest's  designs  Barrett  interrogated 
him,  and  was  haughtily  told  that  True  had  given 
orders  for  the  execution  of  the  prisoners.  Barrett 
flew  to  the  chief,  and  through  an  interpreter  laid 
the  matter  before  him.  It  then  transpired  that 
Cowley  had  lied — a  fact  that  Barrett  took  good  care 
to  charge  him  with  in  the  most  public  manner. 
The  young  man's  temerity,  however,  nearly  cost 
him  his  life,  for  while  he  was  still  speaking  one  of 
the  priest's  followers  made  a  lunge  at  him  with  a 
pike,  and  only  his  precipitate  retreat  saved  him 
from  the  fury  of  the  bloodthirsty  mob.1 

Cowley's  methods  and  intentions  savored  strongly 
of  the  good  old  inquisition  days.  On  the  night  of 
September  8th,  about  twelve  o'clock,  this  disciple  of 
Torquemada  entered  the  improvised  jail  to  gloat 
over  his  victims.  They  were  packed  together  like 
sheep,  in  a  room  scarcely  large  enough  to  hold  half 
their  number.  Surmising  that  in  the  confusion 
attending  their  arrest  some  Catholics  might  have 
been  included,  he  greeted  them  with  the  words : 
"  Lie  down,  Orange ;  rise  up,  Croppy."  Robert 
Atkinson,  of  Ballybeg,  one  of  the  prisoners,  noticed 
the  speaker's  clerical  garb  and  approached  him 
with  a  request  for  protection,  but  for  answer  re- 
ceived a  stunning  blow  over  the  head  with  a  heavy 
bludgeon.  Cowley  worked  himself  into  a  passion, 
and  shaking  his  fist  at  the  unfortunates,  exclaimed  : 
"  You  parcel  of  heretics  have  no  more  religion  than 

1  Musgrave's  Memoirs,  page  629. 


158  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

a  parcel  of  pigs.  I  do  not  know  whether  you  will 
be  put  to  death  before  ten  o'clock  to-morrow  by- 
being  burned  with  barrels  of  tar,  or  by  pikes,  or 
by  balls  !  "  ■  He  supplemented  this  agreeable  pro- 
gramme by  adding  his  doubts  whether  balls  "  would 
find  room  in  their  bodies."  The  priest's  sanguinary 
intentions  were  happily  not  carried  into  effect,  for 
when  Charost's  attention  was  called  to  the  danger 
of  the  Protestants  he  came  in  person  to  Ballina, 
and  reprimanded  True  severely  for  listening  to  any 
accusations  on  the  score  of  religion.  He  ordered 
all  persons  arrested  by  Cowley's  henchmen  to  be 
brought  before  him,  spent  a  full  day  in  their  exam- 
ination, and  discharged  every  one  of  them.  The 
poor  wretches  were  free  to  return  to  their  homes. 
To  many  that  word  meant  but  a  heap  of  ashes. 

A  volume,  indeed,  would  not  contain  the  list  of 
outrages  committed  in  the  name  of  Romanism  and 
— strange  concomitant — Liberty  !  The  malice  of 
the  insurgents  was  early  directed  against  a  Presby- 
terian meeting-house  between  Killala  and  Ballina. 
It  had  been  built  for  the  worship  of  a  small  colony 
of  weavers  brought  from  the  north  by  the  Earl  of 
Arran.  Their  pastor,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Marshall, 
had  devoted  himself  to  fitting  it  up  in  a  style 
worthy  of  its  character,  and  so  universally  was  he 
respected  that  all  the  Protestant  gentry  of  the 
neighborhood  had  contributed  to  its  embellishment. 

1  Affidavits  of  William  Stcnson,  John  Armstrong  and  Robert 
Atkinson.     Musgrave's  Memoirs,  Appendix,  page  164. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  *g8.  I  59 

The  building  was  utterly  demolished  in  the  begin- 
ning of  September,  and  the  congregation  suffered 
much  at  the  hands  of  the  insurgents.  Castlereagh, 
the  seat  of  Arthur  Knox,  and  Castle  Lacken,  the 
property  of  Sir  John  Palmer,  were  also  pillaged 
by  an  organized  band  of  marauders,  and  but  for 
his  indomitable  pluck  Mr.  Bourke,  of  Summerhill, 
would  have  suffered  in  a  like  manner. 

News  of  these  various  outrages  having  been 
brought  to  Killala,  Charost  despatched  Boudet  and 
Edwin  Stock,  one  of  the  bishop's  sons,  to  Summer- 
hill  to  appease  the  mob,  and  another  party  of  men 
to  Castlereagh  to  save  what  remained  of  the  pro- 
visions and  liquors.  The  appearance  of  the  emis- 
saries ended  the  siege  at  Mr.  Bourke's  house;  but 
the  Castlereagh  party,  which  consisted  entirely  of 
natives,  could  think  of  no  better  expedient  for  pre- 
serving the  spirits  from  the  thirsty  bandits  that 
coveted  them  than  by  concealing  as  much  as  they 
could  in  their  own  stomachs.  The  consequence 
was  that  they  returned  to  Killala  uproariously 
drunk.  As  for  Castle  Lacken,  it  was  completely 
gutted,  and  the  occupant  and  his  large  family  were 
driven  out  to  seek  shelter  as  best  they  could  find  it. 
Charost's  indignation  at  such  barbarity  knew  no 
bounds.  He  told  the  insurgents  that  he  was  a  Chef 
de  Brigade,  not  a  Chef  de  Brigands,  and  declared 
that  if  he  ever  caught  them  preparing  to  despoil 
and  murder  Protestants,  he  would  side  with  the  lat- 
ter to  the  very  last  extremity. 


l6o  THE   TRENCH  INVASION 

In  the  meanwhile  the  suspense  at  Killala,  with 
reference  to  the  progress  of  the  military  operations 
in  the  east,  had  waxed  acute.  Contradictory 
rumors  of  an  alarmist  nature  were  constantly  filling 
the  air,  and  it  was  not  until  September  12th,  the 
day  of  O'Keon's  ill-fated  attack  on  Castlebar,  that 
some  definite  information  reached  the  authorities  at 
the  castle.  On  the  evening  of  that  day  William 
Charles  Fortescue,  nephew  of  Lord  Clermont,  was 
sent  in  a  prisoner  from  Ballina,  and  from  him 
Charost  learned  of  the  capitulation  of  Humbert's 
force  at  Ballinamuck.  The  commandant  now  felt 
that  a  crisis  was  approaching,  for,  aware  of  the  tem- 
per of  the  insurgents,  he  had  reason  to  fear  that  in 
the  fury  of  their  wrath  and  despair  they  would 
attempt  the  massacre  of  every  Protestant  in  town. 
Conceiving  his  task  of  annoying  the  enemies  of  his 
country  to  be  concluded  for  the  present,  he  looked 
to  nothing  further  than  the  preserving  of  peace  and 
quiet  round  about  him  until  the  arrival  of  a  regular 
British  force  should  allow  him  and  his  companions 
to  surrender  without  discredit.  In  pursuance  of 
this  determination,  and  with  the  distinct  purpose  to 
shed  his  own  blood,  if  necessary,  in  the  defence  of 
the  threatened  loyalists,  he  took  immediate  steps 
to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  situation.  In  the 
apartments  occupied  by  the  three  officers  twelve 
loaded  carbines  were  kept  in  readiness,  and  among 
the  seven  or  eight  trusted  members  of  the  bishop's 
household  a  variety   of  weapons  were  distributed. 


t::,v 


'J5, 


<5H 


%<;   '  •--'      t     (fa         ^M!% 


t^H     .' 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'q8.  l6l 

Henceforth  the  Frenchmen  remained  constantly  on 
the  alert,  watching-  not  only  all  newcomers  and  ap- 
plicants at  the  castle  gate,  but  also  their  own  guard 
of  twenty  men. 

The  precautions  were  by  no  means  superfluous. 
Day  by  day  the  prospect  grew  more  threatening. 
On  September  i8th  intelligence  of  General  Trench's 
preparations  to  march  an  army  against  them  from 
Castlebar  caused  the  insurgent  leaders  to  send  in  a 
demand  to  Charost  that  the  Protestants  be  impris- 
oned in  the  cathedral  as  hostages.  This  he  flatly 
refused  to  do.  The  next  day  an  angry  crowd  gath- 
ered about  the  castle  gate,  complaining  that  their 
friends  and  relations  in  Castlebar  were  beins  ill- 
treated  by  the  British.  To  quiet  them  the  bishop 
suggested  that  two  emissaries  be  despatched  to  Gen- 
eral Trench  for  the  purpose  of  entreating  him  to  do 
nothing  to  his  prisoners  of  a  nature  to  provoke  re- 
prisals on  the  Protestants  at  Killala.  The  proposi- 
tion met  with  immediate  approval.  Roger  Maguire, 
son  of  a  Crossmalina  brewer,  and  Dean  Thompson, 
who  with  his  family  had  occupied  the  bishop's 
apartments  since  the  appearance  of  the  French, 
were  selected  for  the  mission,  and  early  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  they  started  out  on  their  perilous 
journey. 

Their  departure  did  not  effect  the  desired  truce. 
A  false  report  that  the  English  were  approaching 
served  to  recall  to  town,  on  the  20th,  a  number  of 
pikemen  whom   the  commandant  had   induced,  the 


1 62  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

evening  before,  to  return  to  their  homes.  Rioting 
and  drunkenness  became  the  order  of  the  day.  For 
the  fourth  or  fifth  time  the  house  of  Mr.  Rutledge, 
the  customs  officer,  was  attacked  by  a  band  of  ruf- 
fians in  search  of  plunder.  To  restore  quiet  Ponson 
was  called  from  his  couch,  where  he  was  sleep- 
ing off  the  fatigues  of  the  previous  night.  Single- 
handed  he  rushed  upon  the  crowd  and  felled  the 
foremost  man  to  the  ground  with  a  blow  from  a 
musket.  The  fury  of  his  charge  put  the  entire  band 
to  flight.  On  the  2 1st  another  disorderly  mob  ap- 
peared at  the  castle  gates  and  clamored  for  permis- 
sion to  arrest  Mr.  Bourke,  of  Summerhill,  whose 
defiant  attitude  had  aroused  their  ire.  They  de- 
clared that  he  was  abusing  his  Catholic  neighbors. 
Charost  told  them  curtly  to  go  to  Summerhill  if 
they  pleased,  but  added  that  he  would  follow  them 
up  and  fire  upon  them  if  he  caught  them  in  the  act 
of  plundering  the  house.  Later  in  the  day  the 
commandant,  by  his  presence  of  mind,  averted  an- 
other danger.  Just  as  he  was  sitting  down  to  din- 
ner word  was  brought  to  him  that  a  party  of  tur- 
bulent pikemen  had  assembled  outside  the  castle, 
bent  on  plunder.  Charost  walked  out  leisurely, 
accompanied  by  his  two  officers,  and  found  them 
preparing  to  batter  in  the  gates.  In  his  ordinary 
tone  of  command  he  called  "attention,"  divided 
them  into  platoons,  and  proceeded  to  put  them 
through  their  daily  exercise.  His  nonchalance 
completely   nonplussed    them,    and,    occupied    with 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  1 63 

their  drill,  they  were  effectually  diverted  from  mis- 
chief. 

Much  to  the  relief  of  the  castle's  inmates,  the  two 
emissaries  returned  the  same  evening  from  Castle- 
bar.  They  brought  a  letter  to  the  bishop  from 
General  Trench,  giving  full  assurances  regarding  the 
treatment  of  the  rebel  prisoners.  This  was  read 
to  the  insurgents,  and  appeared  to  reassure  them. 
More  consoling  to  the  bishop  was  the  information, 
privately  imparted  by  Dean  Thompson,  that  owing 
to  the  situation  in  Killala  the  general  had  decided 
to  commence  his  march  two  days  earlier  than  he 
had  intended,  and  would  probably  reach  them  on 
Sunday  morning,  the  23d. 

The  preparations  on  the  part  of  the  British  to 
suppress  the  insurrection  in  northwest  Connaught 
had  been  considerably  delayed  by  the  ominous 
symptoms  in  the  centre  of  the  island.  There,  as 
has  been  shown  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  an  insur- 
rectionary movement  of  great  magnitude  had  been 
set  on  foot  in  the  beginning  of  September,  the 
intention  of  the  rebels  being  to  cooperate  with 
Humbert's  army  on  its  march  to  Dublin.  The 
surrender  of  Ballinamuck  upset  their  plans,  and 
none  of  the  projected  raids. took  place;  but  Lord 
Cornwallis  deemed  it  imprudent  to  detach  any 
troops  from  the  main  army  until  he  had  fully  as- 
sured himself  that  all  danger  from  a  renewed  out- 
break was  over.  And  thus  it  came  to  pass  that 
fully  ten  days  elapsed  between  the  battle  of  Balli- 


164  THE    FRENCH  INVASION 

namuck  and  General  Trench's  appearance  in  Cas- 
tlebar  with  a  force  destined  to  restore  the  king's 
authority  over  the  entire  province. 

Trench  was  determined  that  no  loophole  of  escape 
should  be  left  to  the  rebel  forces.  His  plan  was  to 
attack  them  from  different  sides,  leaving  them  no 
alternative  but  to  surrender  or  be  driven  into  the 
sea.  Lord  Portarlington,  who  was  stationed  at  Sligo 
with  the  Queen's  County  Regiment,  a  small  body  of 
the  24th  Light  Dragoons,  and  several  corps  of  yeo- 
manry, was  ordered  to  march  to  Ballina  and  form 
a  junction  there  with  the  main  body  from  Castle- 
bar;  and  at  the  same  time  a  force  of  300  of  the 
Armagh  militia  at  Foxford,  under  Major  Ache- 
son,  and  another  300  men  at  Newport,  under  Colo- 
nel Fraser,  were  to  converge  to  the  same  point 
from  their  respective  stations.1  Lord  Portarling- 
ton's  troops,  being  the  farthest  off  from  the  com- 
mon destination,  were  the  first  to  move.  Almost 
1,000  strong,  with  two  pieces  of  field  artillery,  they 
started  from  Sligo  on  the  morning  of  September 
2 1  st.  They  were  not  molested  until  nightfall,  when 
a  body  of  rebels  approached  them  at  their  halting- 
place,  near  the  village  of  Grange.  One  cannon-shot 
sufficed  to  disperse  the  assailants.  The  British  did 
not  get  off  so  easily  on  the  following  night.  They 
had  scarcely  entered  the  village  of  Scarmore  when 
they  were   attacked    by  a    column    of  pikemen,  who 

1  Extracts  from  General  Trench's  Utters,  dated  Killala,  Sept.  24th 
and  26th,  1798.— fonts'  Narrative,  page  285. 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  1 65 

had  advanced  from  Ballina  under  the  command  of 
O'Keon  and  Barrett.  A  prolonged  and  obstinate 
encounter  followed,  in  which  the  insurgents  were  at 
length  worsted.  Before  the  commencement  of  the 
action,  a  number  of  Protestant  farmers  living  in  the 
neighboring  hamlet  of  Carrowcarden  had  been  im- 
pressed into  service  by  the  pikemen,  and  in  order 
to  insure  their  cooperation  they  were  placed  in  the 
first  line  of  battle.  The  natural  consequence  of 
this  proceeding  was  their  absolute  annihilation  by 
the  royal  troops. 

The  three  remaining  British  divisions  began  their 
march  on  Saturday,  September  22d.  Major  Ache- 
son  was  vigorously  assailed  by  a  rebel  command, 
but  succeeded  in  beating  them  off.  General 
Trench,  whose  army  was  composed  of  the  Rox- 
burgh light  dragoons,  the  Devonshire,  the  Kerry 
and  the  Prince  of  Wales'  Fencible  Regiments,  the 
Tyrawley  cavalry  and  two  curricle  guns,  took  the 
road  that  had  been  made  memorable  by  Humbert's 
advance  to  Castlebar.  His  progress  was  slow, 
for  the  rain,  falling  unceasingly,  had  converted 
the  highways  into  beds  of  slime.  The  division  en- 
tered Crossmalina  Saturday  night,  worn  out  with 
the  wearisome  march.  News  of  their  approach 
reached  Killala  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  pikemen 
at  once  demanded  to  be  led  against  the  foe ;  for 
with  all  their  bigotry  and  ruffianism  these  uncouth 
peasants  were  never  lacking  in  animal  courage. 
Ferdy    O'Donnell,  of    Erris,  one    of    their    leaders, 


1 66  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

placed  himself  at  their  head,  and  the  march  began. 
At  Rappa  the  commander  was  taken  sick  and  the 
little  army  halted ;  but  a  reconnoitring  party  of 
three  mounted  men,  including  Roger  Maguire,  al- 
ready mentioned,  pushed  forward  as  far  as  the  out- 
skirts of  Crossmalina.  They  there  fell  in  with  a 
picket  of  sixteen  cavalry,  whom  they  boldly  at- 
tacked and  put  to  flight,  actually  following  the  fugi- 
tives into  the  town  itself.  The  weakness  of  the  re- 
connoitring party  was  concealed  by  the  darkness, 
and  their  appearance  caused  a  veritable  alarm — the 
drums  beating  to  arms  and  the  soldiers  rushing 
wildly  through  the  streets.  Having  attained  the 
object  of  the  reconnoissance  the  riders  departed  at 
full  gallop  to  rejoin  their  comrades,  whom  they  dis- 
suaded from  continuing  the  march,  on  the  ground 
that  too  little  ammunition  was  on  hand  for  a  gen- 
eral engagement. 

The  march  of  General  Trench's  division  was  re- 
sumed at  daybreak  on  the  23d,  and  in  a  couple  of 
hours  it  entered  Ballina  to  find  the  town  already 
occupied  by  Lord  Portarlington.  True  and  O'Keon 
had  fled  at  the  latter's  approach,  with  the  remnant 
of  their  followers.  No  time  was  now  lost  in  push- 
ing the  operations  to  a  final  issue.  In  order  to  cut 
off  all  the  avenues  from  Killala  Trench  divided  his 
forces,  and  while  advancing  with  one  division  by 
the  common  highway,  he  sent  the  Kerry  regiment 
of  militia  and  some  cavalry,  under  the  orders  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Crosby  and  Maurice   Fitzgerald 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'gS.  1 67 

(commonly  known  as  the  Knight  of  Kerry),  to  the 
same  destination  by  a  detour  through  the  village  of 
Rappa.  It  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  comment 
that,  in  spite  of  the  difference  in  their  routes,  the 
two  divisions  reached  Killala  at  about  the  same 
time. 

Bishop  Stock  thus  describes  the  engagement  that 
followed  :  "  The  peaceful  inhabitants  of  Killala 
were  now  to  be  spectators  of  a  scene  they  had 
never  expected  to  behold — a  battle  ;  a  sight  which 
no  person  that  has  seen  it  once  and  possesses  the 
feelings  of  a  human  creature  would  choose  to  wit- 
ness a  second  time.  A  troop  of  fugitives  from  Bal- 
lina,  women  and  children  tumbling  over  one  another 
to  get  into  the  castle,  or  into  any  house  in  the  town 
where  they  might  hope  for  a  momentary  shelter, 
continued,  for  a  painful  length  of  time,  to  give 
notice  of  the  approach  of  an  army.  The  rebels 
quitted  their  camp  to  occupy  the  rising  ground 
close  by  the  town,  on  the  road  to  Ballina,  posting 
themselves  under  the  low  stone  walls  on  each  side 
in  such  a  manner  as  enabled  them,  with  great  ad- 
vantage, to  take  aim  at  the  king's  troops.  The  two 
divisions  of  the  royal  army  were  supposed  to  make 
up  about  1,200  men,  and  they  had  five  pieces  of 
cannon.  The  number  of  the  rebels  could  not  be 
ascertained.  Many  ran  away  before  the  engage- 
ment, while  a  very  considerable  number  flocked 
into  the  town  in  the  very  heat  of  it,  passing  under 
the  castle  windows,  in  view  of  the   French  officers 


1 68  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

on  horseback,  and  running  upon  death  with  as  little 
appearance  of  reflection  or  concern  as  if  they  were 
hastening  to  a  show.  About  400  of  these  mis- 
guided men  fell  in  the  battle  and  immediately  after 
it ;  whence  it  may  be  conjectured  that  their  entire 
number  scarcely  exceeded  800  or  900. 

"  We  kept  our  eyes  on  the  rebels.  They  levelled 
their  pieces,  fired  very  deliberately  from  each  side 
on  the  advancing  enemy  ;  yet  (strange  to  tell)  were 
able  only  to  kill  one  man,  a  corporal,  and  wound 
one  common  soldier.  Their  shot,  in  general,  went 
over  the  heads  of  their  opponents.  A  regiment  of 
Highlanders  (Fraser's  Fencibles)  filed  off  to  the 
right  and  left  to  flank  the  fusileers  behind  the 
hedges  and  walls ;  they  had  marshy  ground  on  the 
left  to  surmount  before  they  could  come  upon  their 
object,  which  occasioned  some  delay,  but  at  length 
they  reached  them  and  made  sad  havoc  among 
them.  Then  followed  the  Queen's  County  militia 
and  the  Devonshire,  which  last  regiment  had  a  great 
share  in  the  honor  of  the  day.  After  a  resistance 
of  about  twenty  minutes,  the  rebels  began  to  fly  in 
all  directions,  and  were  pursued  by  the  Roxburgh 
Cavalry  into  the  town  in  full  cry.  This  was  not 
agreeable  to  military  practice,  according  to  which 
it  is  usual  to  commit  the  assault  of  a  town  to  the 
infantry;  but  here  the  general  wisely  reversed  the 
mode,  in  order  to  prevent  the  rebels,  by  a  rapid 
pursuit,  from  taking  shelter  in  the  houses  of  towns- 
folk, a  circumstance  which  was    likely  to    provoke 


OF  IRELAND  IN  '98.  1 69 

indiscriminate  slaughter  and  pillage.  It  happened 
that  the  measure  was  attended  with  the  desired 
success.  A  great  number  were  cut  down  in  the 
streets,  and  of  the  remainder  but  a  few  were  able  to 
escape  into  the  houses,  being  either  pushed  through 
the  town  till  they  fell  in  with  the  Kerry  militia 
from  Crossmalina,  or  obliged  to  take  to  the  shore, 
where  it  winds  round  a  promontory  forming  one  of 
the  horns  of  the  Bay  of  Killala.  And  here,  too, 
the  fugitives  were  swept  away  by  scores,  a  cannon 
being  placed  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay  which 
did  great  execution. 

"  In  spite  of  the  exertions  of  the  general  and  his 
officers,  the  town  exhibited  almost  all  the  marks  of 
a  place  taken  by  storm.  Some  houses  were  per- 
forated like  a  riddle  ;  most  of  them  had  their  doors 
and  windows  destroyed,  the  trembling  inhabitants 
scarcely  escaping  with  life  by  lying  prostrate  on  the 
floor.  Nor  was  it  till  the  close  of  the  next  day 
that  our  ears  were  relieved  from  the  horrid  sound 
of  muskets  discharged  every  minute  at  flying  and 
powerless  rebels.  The  plague  of  war  so  often  visits 
the  world  that  we  are  apt  to  listen  to  any  descrip- 
tion of  it  with  the  indifference  of  satiety  ;  it  is  act- 
ual inspection  only  that  shows  the  monster  in  its 
proper  deformity. 

"  What  heart  can  forget  the  impression  it  has  re- 
ceived from  the  glance  of  a  fellow-creature  pleading 
for  his  life,  with  a  crowd  of  bayonets  at  his  breast  ? 
The  eye  of  Demosthenes  never  emitted  so  penetrat- 


I70  THE  FRENCH  INVASION 

ing  a  beam  in  his  most  enraptured  flight  of  oratory. 
Such  a  man  was  dragged  before  the  bishop  on  the 
day  after  the  battle,  while  the  hand  of  slaughter 
was  still  in  pursuit  of  the  unresisting  peasants 
through  the  town.  In  the  agonies  of  terror  the 
prisoner  thought  to  save  his  life  by  crying  out  '  that 
he  was  known  to  the  bishop.'  Alas !  the  bishop 
knew  him  not  ;  neither  did  he  look  like  a  good  man. 
But  the  arms  and  the  whole  body  of  the  person  to 
whom  he  flew  for  protection  were  over  him  imme- 
diately.    Memory  suggested  rapidly  : 

"  '  What  a  piece  of  workmanship  is  man  !  the  beauty  of  the 
world,  the  paragon  of  animals  !  And  are  you  going  to  de- 
face this  admirable  work  ? ' — Hamlet. 

"As  indeed  they  did.  For,  though  the  soldiers 
promised  to  let  the  unfortunate  man  remain  in 
custody  till  he  should  have  a  trial,  yet,  when  they 
found  he  was  not  known,  they  pulled  him  out  of 
the  court-yard  as  soon  as  the  bishop's  back  was 
turned,  and  shot  him  at  the  gate." 

This  engagement,  so  graphically  described,  nearly 
proved  disastrous  to  the  brave  men  whose  advocacy 
of  the  great  principle  of  religious  liberty  had  already 
exposed  them  to  so  many  perils.  In  the  indiscrimi- 
nate slaughter  which  followed  the  battle,  the  royal 
troops,  elate  with  victory  and  inflamed  by  revenge, 
showed  small  respect  for  persons.  Charost's  escape 
from  death  was  almost  miraculous.  After  having 
done  his  share  in  the  defence  of  the  rebel  position, 


OF  IRELAND  IN  \8.  ^I^I 

he  had  returned  to  the  castle  and  surrendered  his 
sword  to  a  British  officer.  As  he  turned  to  enter 
the  hall  he  was  shot  at  by  a  Highlander  who  had 
forced  his  way  past  the  sentinel  at  the  gate.  The 
ball  fortunately  passed  under  Charost's  arm  and 
pierced  the  heavy  oaken  door.  The  English  officer 
here  interposed  and  tendered  an  apology  for  the 
soldier's  act.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  every  cour- 
tesy was  shown  to  the  French  prisoners  after  this, 
exception  being  made  of  O'Keon  only,  who,  in  spite 
of  his  rank  in  the  French  army  and  his  claim  to 
French  citizenship,  was  some  days  later  sent  a 
prisoner  to  Castlebar  to  be  tried  for  high  treason. 
In  response  to  Bishop  Stock's  appeal  in  his  behalf, 
he  was  acquitted  of  the  charge,  but  enjoined  to 
leave  the  country  on  the  shortest  notice. 

Two  days  after  the  battle  the  three  French  offi- 
cers were  ordered  to  Dublin,  and  one  can  readily 
believe  the  bishop's  assertion  that  he  parted  with 
them  "  not  without  tears."  The  story  of  their  hon- 
orable and  courageous  attitude  during  the  long 
period  of  disorders  having  preceded  them  to  the 
capital,  they  were  received  there  with  many  marks 
of  consideration,  and  they  enjoyed  the  hospitality 
of  no  less  a  person  than  the  lord  primate  himself. 
On  the  report  of  Bishop  Stock  the  British  Govern- 
ment offered  to  return  them  to  the  French  author- 
ities without  exchange,  but  this  act  of  courtesy 
was  not  accepted  by  Niou,  the  French  commissary. 
These  men,  he  declared,  had  merely  followed  their 


IJ 2  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 


■s 


line  of  duty.  They  had  done  no  more  than  what 
was  expected  of  any  French  officer  in  a  like  situa- 
tion. They  were  therefore  not  entitled  to  special 
favors. 

The  fate  of  the  insurgents  who  escaped  sword 
and  bayonet  was  a  far  different  one.  A  court- 
martial  to  try  them  began  its  sessions  on  Monday 
morning,  the  24th  of  September,  and  early  on  Tues- 
day the  first  two  victims  were  handed  over  to  the 
executioner.  These  were  an  irresponsible  drunkard 
named  Bellew  and  one  Richard  Bourke,  of  Bellina. 
The  authority  of  the  Crown  continued  to  be  as- 
serted in  a  ruthless  manner  for  many  weeks  after- 
ward, and  even  six  months  later  fresh  victims  were 
found  to  swell  the  lengthy  list.  There  has  been  no 
hesitation  in  pointing  out  in  these  pages  the  many 
acts  of  insurgent  ruffianism  prompted  by  religious 
intolerance  and  race  and  political  hatred  ;  but  it  is 
only  justice  to  add  that  ruffianism  and  rapacity 
constitute  the  worst  charges  that  can  be  preferred 
against  the  unfortunate  peasants  engaged,  after  all, 
in  a  struggle  with  a  galling  despotism.  In  the 
words  of  Bishop  Stock,  "  during  the  whole  time  of 
civil  commotion  not  a  drop  of  blood  was  shed  by 
the  Connaught  rebels,  except  in  the  field  of  war." 
This  circumstance  should  in  all  justice  have  carried 
some  weight  with  the  conquerors  and  have  dictated 
a  policy  of  mildness  and  conciliation,  instead  of  one 
of  blood  and  fire.  Yet  what  could  be  expected  of 
men  who  in  the  name  of  the  king  and  the  constitu- 


OF  IRELAND   IN  'g8.  1 73 

tion  had  already,  months  before,  turned   the   most 
flourishing  parts  of  the  land  into  a  wilderness? 


And  thus  ended  General  Humbert's  glorious  but 
abortive  expedition,  as  insufficiently  supported  by 
the  French  Government  as  by  the  United  Irish- 
men. Any  further  examination  into  the  various 
causes  that  contributed  to  the  maintenance  of  Brit- 
ish misrule  in  the  afflicted  country  would  be  su- 
perfluous here.  The  foregoing  narration  of  fact 
speaks  for  itself,  and  fully  answers  the  question. 
The  careful  reader  can  only  deduce  the  inference 
that  the  principal  cause  lay  in  the  Irish  people 
themselves.  The  fate  of  the  expedition  became  a 
foregone  conclusion  from  the  moment  the  rebels 
showed  their  colors.  Their  inability  to  separate 
the  political  from  the  religious  idea  made  them 
the  subservient  tools  of  men  whose  one  aim  was  to 
supplant  the  reigning  despotism  with  a  theocracy 
no  less  tyrannical.  Had  they  been  imbued  with 
the  same  broad  and  liberal  spirit  which  animated 
the  thirteen  colonies  of  America,  their  energies 
would  not  have  been  wasted  in  the  waging  of  a 
petty  religious  persecution,  but  would  have  been 
expended  in  the  field  against  the  common  enemy. 
What  might  not  a  force  of  10,000  determined  pa- 
triots, in  conjunction  with  Humbert's  army,  have 
accomplished  in  the  early  part  of  the  campaign  ? 
Probably  an    annihilation    of    Lake's   forces.     And 


1/4  FRENCH  INVASION  OF  IRELAND. 

had  the  rebels  done  their  duty  even  after  the 
French  general's  ill-advised  sojourn  at  Castlebar,  is 
it  not  fair  to  assume  that  the  result  of  the  battle 
of  Ballinamuck  would  have  been  different  ?  Even 
though  it  may  be  maintained  that  Humbert's  loss 
of  time  at  the  village  of  Cloone  practically  sealed 
the  fate  of  the  French  army,  and  that  at  its  best 
his  chance  of  ultimate  success  was  problematical  in 
the  extreme,  it  is  certain  that  the  onus  of  his  fail- 
ure rests  primarily  on  the  insurgents'  shoulders. 
Their  cause  was  a  noble  one,  but  they  failed  to 
grasp  its  true  significance.  May  the  lesson  not  be 
lost  on  a  future  race  of  patriots ! 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Humbert's  Career  subsequent  to  his  Return  from  Ireland— His 
Part  in  the  Campaign  against  the  Austrians,  and  the  Expedition 
to  San  Domingo— His  Love  Intrigue  with  Pauline  Bonaparte- 
Escape  to  America— Present  at  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans— Ex- 
pedition to  Mexico. 


HOUGH,  the  story  of  Hum- 
bert's descent  upon  Ireland 
is  concluded,  there  is  still 
something  to  be  added  re- 
garding his  subsequent  ca- 
reer. This  would  be  super- 
fluous were  it  not  that  he 
later  played  an  active  role 
in  the  history  of  the  New  World, 
and  that  his  name  must  ever  be 
linked  with  the  stirring  events  that  created  one 
of  its  great  commonwealths.  Fame  he  never  ac- 
quired, but  throughout  this  latter  portion  of  his 
life  he  displayed  qualities  of  no  mean  calibre.  He 
proved  himself  a  man  of  courage  and  ability,  lack- 
ing but  few  of  the  essentials  of  greatness. 

After   his   return    to    France,   Humbert   was    de- 


1/6  THE   FRENCH   INVASION 

tailed  to  join  Massena's  army,  engaged  in  opposing 
the  Austrians  in  Switzerland  and  the  Tyrol.  The 
situation  there  was  critical  for  the  French,  who 
were  also  menaced  on  their  flanks  by  a  host  of 
Russians,  under  Suvoroff.  At  the  beginning  of 
June,  1799,  tne  surroundings  of  Zurich  became  the 
theatre  of  several  obstinate  engagements  between 
Massena  and  the  Austrian  general,  Hotze,  and  in 
one  of  these  Humbert  received  a  severe  wound. 
He  recovered,  however,  in  time  to  take  part  in 
the  closing  battles  of  the  campaign,  which  termi- 
nated in  September  with  the  annihilation  of  Hotze's 
army  and  the  retreat  of  Suvoroff.  We  next  hear 
of  him  as  a  member  of  the  expedition  sent  in  De- 
cember, 1802,  by  the  First  Consul,  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte, to  San  Domingo  to  crush  the  rebellion  of 
the  black  population  of  that  island.  It  is  notice- 
able that  our  hero  had  received  no  further  promo- 
tion in  the  mean  time,  and  that  the  commander-in- 
chief,  Leclerc,  who  was  Bonaparte's  brother-in-law, 
did  not  at  first  invest  him  with  a  separate  com- 
mand. This  had  its  reason.  Humbert  had  been 
one  of  the  opponents  of  the  [8th  Brumaire,  the 
coup  d'etat  which  practically  ended  the  republican 
era,  and  he  had  consequently  incurred  the  displeas- 
ure of  the  First  Consul.  Whatever  his  faults,  he 
can  never  be  accused  of  lukewarmness  in  the  cause 
of  liberty.  He  remained  a  consistent  republican 
throughout. 

It  is  needless  to  go  into  the  details  of  the  horrible 


OF  IRELAND  IN  'g8.  1 77 

Haytian  war  of  independence,  a  blot  on  the  history 
of  civilization.  As  far  as  Humbert  is  concerned,  he 
did  his  duty  as  a  soldier  with  his  usual  uncompro- 
mising vigor.  To  him  fell  the  task  of  dislodging  the 
rebel  general,  Maurepas,  from  his  position  near  Go- 
naives,  while  the  other  strategic  points  were  being 
attacked  by  three  separate  divisions  under  Generals 
Desfourneux,  Hardi  and  Rochambeau.  Of  these 
different  corps,  that  commanded  by  Humbert  was 
the  most  perilously  placed,  and  its  movements  were 
impeded  by  heavy  rainfalls.  After  some  hard  but 
indecisive  fighting  Humbert  received  reinforce- 
ments under  General  Desbelles,  and  the  attack  on 
the  rebels  was  renewed.  In  the  mean  time  General 
Leclerc  sent  another  column  against  the  rear  of  the 
rebel  position,  and  finding  himself  almost  encircled 
by  the  French,  Maurepas  at  last  surrendered  to  Hum- 
bert and  Desbelles  upon  the  condition,  held  out 
in  General  Leclerc's  proclamation,  that  he  should 
retain  his  rank. 

The  remaining  divisions  of  the  French  Army  were 
equally  successful  in  their  various  undertakings,  so 
that  less  than  two  months  after  the  opening  of  the 
hostilities  the  rebel  chiefs,  from  Toussaint  l'Ouver- 
ture  down,  declared  themselves  willing  to  submit  on 
honorable  terms.  An  agreement  was  accordingly 
entered  upon  between  the  opposing  armies,  which 
might  have  eventually  restored  quiet  to  the  island 
had  it  not  been  treacherously  violated  by  the 
French  commander.     The  arrest  of  Toussaint  and 


173  THE    FRENCH  INVASION 

his  transportation  to  France  drove  the  blacks  to 
desperation,  and  the  war  was  resumed  with  unpar- 
alleled barbarity.  Decimated  by  the  attacks  of  the 
black  guerillas  and  the  ravages  of  fever,  the  French 
forces  dwindled  down  to  the  mere  skeleton  of  an 
army.  The  dreadful  maladies  generated  by  the 
mephitic  atmosphere,  resulting  from  the  decompo- 
sition of  the  thousands  of  unburied  dead,  spared 
not  even  the  commander-in-chief.  On  the  night  of 
November  1st  he  died,  after  a  prolonged  sickness, 
in  the  arms  of  his  wife,  the  beautiful  Pauline  Bona- 
parte, eldest  sister  of  the  First  Consul. 

Pauline  was  a  woman  of  fickle  disposition.  She 
possessed,  moreover,  the  passionate  nature  of  her 
race.  Even  during  her  husband's  sickness  her  eyes 
had  rested  favoringly  upon  the  athletic  and  graceful 
form  of  one  of  the  generals  of  Leclerc's  entourage, 
and  when  it  was  decided  that  she  should  convey  the 
corpse  back  to  France,  she  selected  him  as  an  es- 
cort. This  object  of  her  admiration  was  none  other 
than  Humbert,  and  the  world  can  scarcely  blame 
him  for  responding  to  advances  from  so  distin- 
guished a  source.  Indeed,  Humbert  seems  to  have 
fallen  fairly  in  love.  When  the  couple  reached 
their  destination  he  endeavored  to  secure  the  pro- 
consul's consent  to  their  marriage.  Bonaparte,  how- 
ever, had  no  desire  for  so  democratic  a  brother-in- 
law  as  Humbert,  and  fearing  lest  his  veto  might  be 
disregarded,  he  exiled  the  bold  applicant  to  Brit- 
tany.    Not    satisfied    with    this,   he    afterward    pre- 


OF  IRELAND   IN  \8.  1 79 

pared  to  throw  him  into  prison— a  fate  Hum- 
bert avoided  by  making  his  way  to  the  United 
States. 

Little,  if  anything,  is  known  of  his  movements 
during  the  first  few  years  of  his  sojourn  in  this 
country.  The  war  of  1812  found  him  actively  en- 
gaged on  the  American  side,  and  at  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans,  January  8,  181 5,  he  distinguished  him- 
self as  the  commander  of  a  corps  of  Creole  marks- 
men. One  of  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the 
event  was  the  coincidence  of  his  finding  himself 
on  the  occasion  opposed  to  one  of  the  very  men 
who  had  contributed  to  his  defeat  at  Ballinamuck. 
General  Packenham,  the  English  commander,  had 
formerly  been  an  officer  in  Lake's  army,  and  had 
narrowly  escaped  death  during  that  engagement  in 
consequence  of  a  premature  announcement  of  the 
French  surrender.1 

The  renewed  taste  of  war's  excitement  seems  to 
have  fired  Humbert's  blood,  and  he  looked  around 
for  fresh  fields  for  his  martial  ambition.  His  glance 
needed  not  to  wander  far.  The  people  of  Mexico 
were  in  open  rebellion  against  Spanish  authority. 
From  the  frontiers  of  Texas  to  the  extremity  of 
Yucatan  the  spectre  of  war  was  pervading  the  land. 
Alternately  victorious  and  defeated,  the  insurgents, 
first  under  Hidalgo  and  then  under  Don  J.  More- 
los,  had  long  defied  the  best  troops  of  Calleja,  the 
bloodthirsty  Spanish  viceroy.     One  of  the  incidents 

1  See  page  133. 


ISO  THE   FRENCH  INVASION 

of  the  war  was  Don  J.  M.  Toledo's  abortive  expedi- 
tion for  the  relief  of  the  struggling  patriots.  To- 
ledo, who  had  been  a  member  of  the  Cortes  in 
Spain  for  Mexico,  arrived  in  the  United  States  at 
the  close  of  the  year  1812,  and  in  conjunction  with 
Don  B.  Guiterrez,  then  at  Washington  in  the  capac- 
ity of  commissioner  from  the  new  Mexican  Govern- 
ment, formed  a  plan  for  invading  the  eastern  prov- 
inces of  New  Spain.  They  engaged  some  citizens 
of  the  United  States  to  join  the  expedition,  and  set 
out  for  the  Provincias  Interns,  and  having  entered 
the  Spanish  territories  were  reenforced  by  some 
guerillas.  They  obtained  some  advantages  over 
the  royalists,  and  took  San  Antonio  de  Bejar,  the 
capital  of  the  province  of  Texas.  But  they  were 
attacked  in  January,  1813,  and  completely  dispersed 
by  Don  N.  Arredondy,  military  commander  of  the 
internal  provinces,  upon  which  Toledo  made  his 
escape  to  the  United  States. 

At  the  time  of  the  conclusion  of  peace  between 
this  country  and  England  the  situation  in  Mexico 
was  anything  but  favorable  to  the  cause  of  liberty. 
A  patriot  Congress  convened  at  Chilpanzingo,  ninety 
miles  south  of  Mexico,  had  endeavored  to  revive 
the  spirits  of  the  people  by  offering  them  a  dem- 
ocratic constitution  ;  but  in  the  end  this  body  of 
representatives,  by  its  lack  of  accord,  only  proved 
a  hindrance  to  Morelos'  operations  in  the  field. 
When  he  or  any  of  his  generals  proposed  a  military 
plan   of  action  the   long   discussion   which  it   must 


OF  IRELAND   IN   '<?S.  l8l 

undergo  in  the  Congress  not  only  occasioned  delay, 
but  often  defeated  the  object  in  view. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  Humbert  appeared  on 
the  scene.  He  had  come  in  contact  with  Toledo  in 
the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  eager  to  join  in  any 
struggle  on  behalf  of  the  oppressed,  he  set  about 
to  organize  an  expedition  which  should  help  the 
patriot  army,  then  concentrated  in  Yucatan,  out  of 
the  existing  dilemmas.  He  succeeded  in  assem- 
bling over  one  thousand  men  of  all  nationalities  and 
in  chartering  a  vessel  to  convey  them  to  the  small 
port  of  El  Puente  del  Rey,  situated  between  Jalapa 
and  Vera  Cruz.  In  addition  to  this  force  the  vessel 
carried  a  large  quantity  of  arms  and  ammunition, 
then  sorely  needed  by  the  insurgents. 

As  soon  as  Morelos  learned  of  the  arrival  at  its 
destination  of  Humbert's  little  army,  he  decided  to 
join  it  with  his  available  forces,  and  accompanied 
by  the  Congress.  The  march  of  the  patriots  com- 
menced early  in  November,  1815,  and  although  the 
royalists  hovered  around  and  harassed  them  con- 
tinually, no  general  attack  was  attempted.  Never- 
theless, an  unforeseen  catastrophe  prevented  their 
junction  with  Humbert's  hardy  band.  On  Novem- 
ber 5th,  Morelos,  the  life  and  soul  of  the  national 
cause,  was  surprised  and  captured  at  the  village  of 
Tepecuacilco  while  covering  the  retreat  of  his  troops 
with  a  body  of  cavalry.  The  event  cast  a  gloom 
over  the  Mexican  ranks,  not  alone  because  the  fate 
of  their  beloved  leader  was  sealed,  but  because  all 


1 82  FRENCH  INVASION   OF  IRELAND. 

felt  he  could  not  be  replaced.  Humbert  vainly 
awaited  the  arrival  of  his  allies  in  a  country  un- 
known to  him  and  teeming  with  foes.  He  engaged 
the  latter  on  several  occasions,  and  with  invariable 
success.  He  was  also  fortunate  enough  to  receive 
reinforcements  from  the  Rio  del  Norte  and  Nueva 
Santander.  All  that  availed  him  nothing  in  the 
end.  The  utter  disintegration  of  the  patriot  forces, 
and  the  advance  of  the  loyalists  toward  the  sea- 
coast,  soon  placed  him  in  imminent  danger  of  being 
cut  off  from  his  only  means  of  retreat.  He  there- 
fore reluctantly  concluded  to  return  to  the  United 
States.  The  brave  but  unfortunate  Morelos,  on  the 
other  hand,  suffered  death  some  seven  weeks  after 
his  capture.  He  was  shot  in  the  back  as  a  traitor 
at  the  village  of  San  Cristobal,  eighteen  miles  from 
the  capital. 

Humbert  took  no  further  part  in  the  sanguinary 
contest,  which  ended  several  years  later  with  the 
establishment  of  Mexican  independence.  He  died 
at  New  Orleans  in  February,  1823,  passing  the 
closing  years  of  his  life  in  comparative  obscurity, 
and  earning  a  modest  competence  as  a  teacher  of 
French  and  fencing. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


THOMAS    PAINE'S    LETTER    TO    THE    FRENCH 
DIRECTORY. 

(From  the  European  Magazine,  November,  1798,  page  353.) 

Citizens,  Directors  : 

The  Irishmen  who  went  with  General  Humbert,  bearing  your  com- 
mission, have  been  taken  and  hanged.  Those  who  have  gone  on  the 
second  naval  expedition  are  exposed  to  the  same  fate.  The  follow- 
ing facts  have  a  striking  connection  with  the  plan  which  I  hasten  to 
present  to  you. 

General  Lee,  of  the  American  Army,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the 
English  in  1776  ;  they  threatened  to  hang  him.  Congress,  having  no 
prisoners  of  the  same  rank,  caused  six  lieutenant-colonels,  prisoners, 
to  be  kept  as  hostages  for  him,  and  to  be  treated  in  every  event  in 
the  same  manner  in  which  their  general  might  be  treated  by  the 
English.  This  conduct  produced  the  desired  effect.  The  general, 
instead  of  being  hanged,  was  first  set  at  liberty  on  his  own  parole, 
and  afterward  exchanged. 

The  Directory,  among  their  prisoners  of  war  in  France,  have 
many  Irish  officers  who  are  attached  to  the  British  Government,  and 
it  is  just  that  these  Irish  officers,  bearing  English  commissions, 
should  be  kept  as  hostages  for  the  Irish  officers  who  have  French 
commissions. 

In  another  point  of  view,  our  descent  ought  to  be  assimilated  to 
another  descent,  and  the  English  officers  taken  at  Ostend  ought 
to  be  retained    as    hostages   for   the  French    officers    taken    in   the 


1 86  APPENDIX. 

descent  upon  Ireland.  It  is  necessary  likewise  to  observe  that  for 
more  than  a  century  the  Irish  have  been  used  to  go  into  the  service 
of  France,  and  to  take  French  commissions,  and  that  these  commis- 
sions have  always  been  respected  by  the  British  Government.  The 
Irishmen  who  went  with  the  expedition  have  in  their  favor  a  custom 
admitted  and  settled,  and  they  serve  under  French  generals.  This 
differs  greatly  from  the  Emigrants  at  Quiberon.  The  Emigrants 
there  were  a  separate  body,  acting  solely  under  emigrant  officers. 

Thomas  Paine. 


II. 


OFFICIAL   RETURN   OF   THE   FRENCH   FORCES   CAP- 
TURED  AT    BALLINAMUGK. 

General  and  other  officers,  96  ;  non-commissioned  officers  and 
soldiers,  746  ;  horses,  about  100.  N.  B. — 96  rebels  taken,  three  of 
them  called  general  officers,  by  the  name  of  Roach,  Blake,  and 
Teeling.  The  enemy  in  their  retreat  were  compelled  to  abandon 
nine  pieces  of  cannon,  which  they  had  taken  in  the  former  actions 
with  his  Majesty's  forces. 

Names  of  the  principal  officers  of  the  French  forces  taken  at  the 
battle  of  Ballinamuck,  September  8,  179S  : 

Humbert,  general  en  chef  ;  Sarrazin,  general  de  division  ;  Fon- 
taine, general  de  brigade  ;  Laserrure,  chef  de  brigade,  attache  a  I'etat 
major;  Dufour,  ditto;  Aulty,  chef  de  batallon  ;  Demanche,  ditto; 
Toussaint,  ditto;  Babin,  ditto;  Sibernon,  ditto;  Menou,  commis- 
saire  ordonnateur  ;  Brillier,  commissai re  de  guerre  ;  Thibault,  payeur; 
Puron,  aide-de-camp  ;  Framaire,  ditto  ;  Moreau,  capitaine  vague- 
mestre-general  ;  Ardouin,  chef  de  brigade  ;  Serve,  chef  de  batallon  : 
Hais,  ditto;  Mauchaud,  ditto;  Brand  and  Massonet,  officiers  de 
sante. 

Recapitulation  :  Sous-officiers,  96  ;  grenadiers,  8  ;  fusiliers,  440; 
carabiniers,  33  ;  chasseurs,  60  ;  canonniers,  4T  ;  officiers,  96.     Total, 

844. 

P.  Ardouin. 


APPENDIX.  187 

III.       . 

GENERAL    HUMBERT'S   LETTER    TO   THE    FRENCH 
MARINE    MINISTER. 

„  ^  Lichfield,  2  Vendemiaire  {September  2  s),  1708. 

Citizens,  Directors  :  7y 

After  having  obtained  the   greatest  success   and   made    the   arms 
of  the  French  Republic  to  triumph  during  my  stay  in  Ireland,  I  have 
at  length  been  obliged  to  submit  to  a  superior  force  of  thirty  thou- 
sand troops,  commanded  by  Lord  Cornwallis. 
I  am  a  prisoner  of  war  upon  my  parole. 

(Signed)  Humbert. 

IV. 

GENERAL  HUMBERT'S   LETTER   TO  THE   BISHOP   OF 
KILLALA. 

.,       _  Dover,  Oct.  26,  1708. 

My  Lord  : 

Being  on  the  point  of  returning  to  France,  I  think  it  my  duty  to 
testify  to  you  the  extraordinary  esteem  with  which  your  conduct  has 
always  inspired  me.  Since  I  have  had  the  good  fortune  of  being 
acquainted  with  you,  I  have  always  regretted  that  the  chance  of  war 
and  my  duty  as  a  military  officer  have  obliged  me,  in  carrying  the 
scourge  of  war  into  your  neighborhood,  to  disturb  the  domestic  hap- 
piness which  you  enjoyed,  and  of  which  you  are  in  every  respect 
worthy.  Too  happy  am  I  if,  in  returning  into  my  country,  I  can 
flatter  myself  that  I  have  acquired  any  claim  to  your  esteem.  Inde- 
pendently of  other  reasons  which  I  have  for  loving  and  esteeming 
you,  the  representations  which  citizen  Charost  gives  me  of  all  your 
good  offices  to  him  and  his  officers,  as  well  before  as  after  the  reduc- 
tion of  Killala,  will  demand  forever  my  esteem  and  gratitude. 

I  entreat  you,  my  lord,  to  accept  my  declaration  of  it,  and  to  im- 
part it  to  your  worthy  family. 

I  am,  with  the  highest  esteem,  my  lord, 

Your  most  humble  servant, 

Humbert. 


INDEX. 


Abercromby,  Sir  Ralph,  his  opinion 
of  the  English  troops  in  Ireland,  62. 

"  A  la  baionette"  near  Ballina,  65. 

Atrocities  of  the  English  and  rebels, 
25,  58,  67,  78-9.  127,  135-6,  172. 

Ballina,  battle  near,  65-7  ;  conflicting 
accounts  of  the  battle,  66-7,  note;  re- 
sults of  second  battle,  68. 

Ballinamuck,  battle  of,  described,  132- 
6;  slaughter  of  the  Irish,  135-6; 
losses  of  contestants,  138  ;  treatment 
of  French  prisoners,  138. 

Bantry  Bay  Expedition,  its  formidable 
character  and  unavoidable  failure, 
20-1. 

Barrett,  Patrick,  officer  of  Irish  insur- 
gents, heroically  saves  lives  of  Prot- 
estants, 156-7. 

Batavian  Republic,  its  great  self-sac- 
rifice for  the  principles  of  liberty, 
in  equipping  expedition  for  Ireland, 

21. 

Blake,  General  Richard,  Irish  patriot, 
captured  and  hanged  at  Ballina- 
muck,  dies  bravely,  136. 

Boudet,  Captain,  French  officer  in  ex- 
pedition to  Ireland,  described,  15c. 

Castlebar,  romantic  character  of  its 
vicinity,  73-4  ;  sketch  of  the  town, 
74-5  ;  frequent  broils  between  Eng- 
lish regulars  and  militia,  75-6  ;  illus- 
tration of  Protestant  pietistic  spirit, 
77:  strength  and  position  of  British 
force,  82-7.  Battle  of,  described,  81- 
99;  defeat  of  the  Irish  contingent, 
87-8  ;  foolish  experiment  of  the 
French,  89  ;  their  splendid  audacity 
at  the  last  charge,  8g  ;  French  and 
English  troops  compared,  90,  note  ; 
cowardice  of  the  British,  92-4  ;  fights 
in  the  town  and  at  the  bridge,  94-6  ; 
acts  of  heroism.  95-8  ;  the  English 
flight  called  "  the  races  of  Castle- 
bar,"  Q9;  opposite  conduct  of  Lake 
and  Hutchinson,  98  ;  losses  and  re- 
sults, 103-5.     Excesses  of  the  Irish 


recruits  after  the  battle,  107-9  ;  mas- 
sacre of  Protestants  prevented  by 
the  French,  10S  ;  good  conduct  of 
the  French  soldiers  during  the  occu- 
pation, 109-10  ;  evacuation  by  the 
French,  118;  movements  preceding 
second  attack  on  it  by  Irish  insur- 
gents, 144-5  ;  panic  of  the  citizens, 
146;  description  of  the  battle,  147-8. 

Chambers,  Captain,  in  English  army, 
his  courage  at  Castlebar,  94-7. 

Character  of  English  troops  in  Ireland, 
62-3. 

Charost,  Lieutenant-colonel,  in  French 
arm'y,  sketched,  150- 1  ;  firmly  main- 
tains order  at  Killala,  152-63  ;  re- 
leases persecuted  Protestants,  158  ; 
diverts  a  mob  from  its  villainy,  162- 
3  ;  has  narrow  escape  at  Killala,  171; 
is  sent  prisoner  to  Dublin,  171. 

Colooney,  description  of  march  to, 
121-3  :  battle  at,  124;  orderly  retreat 
of  the  English,  124. 

Connaught,  republican  government 
for,  formed  by  the  French,  112. 

Cornwallis,  Lord  Lieutenant  and  com- 
mander-in-chief, denounces  the  Eng- 
lish force  in  Ireland,  62-3  ;  reorgan- 
izes Lake's  defeated  army,  119 ; 
moves  against  the  French,  120  ;  his 
generalship  against  Humbert,  130-1; 
becomes  cruel  to  the  Irish  patriots, 
141. 

Cowley,  Father  Owen,  a  bloodthirsty 
priest,  156-8. 

Crawford,  Colonel,  enters  Castlebar, 
and  terrorizes  the  "  President,"  118- 
19;  harasses  the  rear  of  Humbert's 
army,  126-8 ;  makes  general  attack 
and  is  defeated,  128  ;  is  captured 
and  released  at  Bailinamuck,  133-5. 

England,  her  naval  power  in  179S, 
16-17  I  ner  blockade  of  French  ports, 
17  ;  her  tyranny  in  Ireland,  17-19  : 
humiliating  reflections  upon  her 
power,  83  ;  inordinate  national  van- 
ity of,  84-5. 


190 


INDEX. 


English  oppressions  of  Ireland,  17-18  ; 
described  by  an  English  nobleman, 
18-19,  note  ;  military  barbarities, 
24-5,  127,  135-6. 

English  forces  in  Ireland,  bad  charac- 
ter of,  62-3  :  military  operations  in 
Ireland,  during  French  invasion, 
begun,  63-4  ;  engagement  near  Bal- 
lina,  65-7  ;  defeat  at  Castlebar,  87- 
99  ;  movements  after  Castlebar,  119- 
21  ;  Trench's  operations  in  Con- 
naught,  164-7. 

Expeditions  to  aid  Ireland,  first, 
French,  under  Hoche,  19-21  ;  sec- 
ond. Dutch  or  Batavian,  21-2:  third, 
under  Humbert,  see  Humbert; 
fourth,'  captured   by    British   navy. 


Fontaine,  Adjutant-General  Louis  Oc- 
tave, his  history  of  the  Irish  cam- 
paign, 45. 

France,  grandest  epoch  of  her  history. 
16  ;  blockade  of  her  coast  by  Eng- 
land, 16-17. 

French  Revolution,  heroism  produced 
by,  16. 

French  Directory,  terms  of  its  alliance 
with  Irish  patriots,  19;  despatches 
expedition  to  Ireland,  19-20  :  breaks 
its  promise  regarding  another,  23. 

French  expeditions  to  Ireland,  motive 
for,  16-17  !  description  of  first  one, 
and  why  it  failed,  20-1  ;  Batavian, 
21-2 ;  Humbert's,  see  Humbert ; 
fourth,   captured  by   English   navy, 

'43- 
French  soldiers  in  Ireland,  good  be- 
havior of,  50-2,  109-10;  proclamation 
to  the  Irish,  53-4  ;  their  excellent 
character,  90,  note ;  distraction  and 
pleasure  after  Castlebar,  105-6  ;  pris- 
oners of  war  at  Ballinamuck,  their 
treatment.  13S  ;  conduct  on  the  way 
to  Dublin,  138-9  ;  at  Liverpool  and 
Litchfield,  139. 

■  ■ ;  >.  an  important  point,  attacked 
unsuccessfully  by  the  Irish  insur- 
gents, 129. 

,  General  Lazare,  character  of, 
1  <  ads  unsuccessful  expedition  to 
Ireland,  19-21. 
Humbert,  General  Jean-Joseph  A.,  his 
landing  at  Kilcummin.  near  Killala, 
27-35;  first  skirmish  of  his   troops, 
-    :  his  pledge  to  the  Irish  people, 
35  ;    origin  and   organization  of  hi 
expedition,  35-6  ;  sketch  of  his  early 
life,   36-43  ;     personal    appearance, 
42-3;  change  in  his  character, 
his  conduct  of  civil  war  in   La  Ven 
d£e,  40-1  ;  his  dauntless  determina- 
tion, 43  ;  his  fleet  and  army,  44  ;  his 


proclamation  to  the  Irish,  53-4 ;  re- 
ligious difficulties  in  organizing 
them,  55-9  ;  short  speech  to  the 
fierce  Catholics;  57 ;  why  the  priests 
aided  him,  58-9 ;  English  move- 
ments begun,  63-4 ;  battle  near  Bal- 
lina,  65-7  ;  moves  toward  Castlebar, 
72  ;  has  a  tedious  march,  80  ;  size  of 
his  army  at  Castlebar,  84  ;  his  plans 
and  movements,  87;  battle  of  Castle- 
bar, 88-99  ;  wins  by  a  bold  stroke. 
89-91  ;  despatches  Teeling  after  the 
British  commanders,  100-1;  exagger- 
ates to  the  French  Directory,  103  ; 
prevents  revenge  on  the  Protestants, 
108 ;  makes  great  mistake  by  at- 
tempting politics,  110-13  ;  organizes 
government  for  Connaught,  m  ; 
makes  large  promises  to  the  Direc- 
tory, 114-15 ;  results  of  dilatory 
policy,  117;  begins  march  to  the  in- 
terior, 11S-21 ;  skirmish  at  Tubber- 
curry,  122  ;  battle  at  Colooney,  124  ; 
praises  Col.  Vereker,  125  ;  turns  and 
moves  toward  Granard,  128  ;  gives  a 
blow  to  the  harassing  Crawford,  128; 
crosses  the  Shannon,  129  ;  arrival  at 
Cloone,  129 ;  his  purpose  defeated 
by  too  much  talk  and  sleep,  129-30; 
forced  to  an  engagement  at  Ballina- 
muck, 131-2  ;  conduct  at  the  battle. 
133-5  ;  his  life  saved  by  Teeling,  135; 
surrenders,  is  brought  before  Lake, 
and  sent  to  Cornwallis,  137  ;  thanked 
by  clergymen  at  Litchfield  for  his 
humanity,  139  ;  his  efforts  to  save 
Teeling  and  the  Irish  officers,  139-41; 
goes  to  prison  with  Teeling,  140 ; 
sent  to  Dublin  and  afterward  to 
France,  138-40;  main  reason  for  his 
failure,  173-4;  his  career  after  leav- 
ing Ireland,  chapter  ix.;  fights  the 
Austrians.  176 ;  is  sent  to  San  Do- 
mingo to  fight  against  liberty,  176-7  ; 
falls  in  love  with  Pauline  Bonaparte, 
178;  escapes  a  prison  by  fleeing  to 
America,  179;  fights  at  battle  of  New- 
Orleans,  179:  raises  expedition  to 
aid  Mexico,  181  ;  returns  unsuccess- 
ful to  the  United  States,  182;  dies 
an  American  citizen  at  New  Orleans 
in  1823,  182.  Brilliancy  and  impor- 
tance of  his  career  in  Ireland,  pre- 
face ;  lesson  of  the  account,  preface, 
13-14. 
Hutchinson,  John  Hely,  English  ma 
ior  general,  moves  against  the 
French,  63  ;  resumes  command  a; 
Castlebar,  81-2;  misrepresents  to 
Cornwallis, 

I  ,i),    as    a  possible    ally   of    the 

French   Republic,  17  :  brutal   treat 

ment  of,  by  England,  17-8,  24;  secret 

1    <  ties  in,  18  ;  Insurrection  Act  in, 

18.    First  expedition  in  aid  of,  19,  21  ; 


INDEX. 


I9I 


attempt  of  the  Ratavian  Republic, 
21-2  ;  plan  of  third  attempt,  36  ;  par- 
tially carried  out  by  Humbert,  see 
Humbert.  Emissaries  of,  in  France, 
their  influence,  24.  Insurrection  of, 
in  1798,  its  outbreak,  24;  weakness 
ot  Irish  character,  111-13. 
Iri^h  insurgents,  their  ideas  and  pur- 
poses, 107-8,  115-16,  note,  148-0; 
large  increase  of  forces,  117;  their 
desertions,  121-2,  127  ;  they  attack 
Granard,  129  ;  are  massacred  at 
Ballinamuck,  135-6 ;  continue  the 
war  after  surrender  of  the  French, 
144;  their  malice  against  Protestants, 
155-9;  they  fight  unsuccessful  battles 
at  Castlebar,  144 ;  and  at  Scarmore, 
164-5  !  finally  defeated  with  great 
slaughter  at  Killala,  167-70 ;  tried 
by  court-martial  and  hanged,  172; 
reasons  for  their  failure  and  destruc- 
tion, 173-4. 

Kerr,  Major,  commands  English  at 
Ballina,  65-6. 

Killala,  landing  place  of  Humbert,  de- 
scribed, 26-7  ;  appearance  of  fleet  in 
bay,  27  ;  first  skirmish  at,  33-4  ;  rais- 
ing of  the  green  flag  at,  49;  scene  of  a 
decisive  battle,  167-9;  Kirkwood, 
magistrate  of,  51. 

Kilmaine  (" le  brave' '),  Lieutenant- 
general,  an  Irishman  with  assumed 
name,  36. 

Kirkwood,  magistrate  at  Killala,  51  ; 
his  house  sacked  by  Irish  revolution- 
ists for  breach  of  parole,  51. 

Lake,  Gerard,  general  of  an  English 
force,  commands  at  Castlebar,  78  ; 
his  erroneous  opinions  of  the  French, 
78-9;  his  brutal  character,  78-9; 
cowardice  at  battle  of  Castlebar,  92, 
9S;  sent  by  Cornwallis, with  a  reor- 
ganized army,  to  pursue  Humbert, 
119-20  ;  harasses  the  French,  126-27; 
his  merciless  barbarity  to  the  Irish, 
127  ;  forces  Humbert  to  an  engage- 
ment, 131  ;  massacres  the  Irish  in- 
surgents, 135-6 ;  surprised  at  the 
smallness  of  his  victory,  137. 

Moira,  Lord,  speech  in  the  British 
House  of  Lords,  November  22,  1797, 
on  the  wrongs  of  Ireland,  18-19, 
note. 

Moore,  John,  ll  President  of  Con- 
naught,"  112  ;  shows  great  coward- 
ice on  the  entry  into  Castlebar  of 
Colonel  Crawford  and  his  cavalry, 
118-19. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  his  desertion 
of  the  Irish,  17  j  dreams  of   conquer- 


ing the  East,  23 


O'D'own,  Irish  patriot,  captured  and 
hanged,  dying  bravely,  at  Ballina- 
muck, 136. 

O'Keon,  Henry,  "  the  green-coated 
horseman,"  31 ;  his  daring  ride. 
32-3  ;  sketch  of.  47-8  ;  his  method  of 
convincing  the  Irish,  70-1 ;  leads  in- 
surgents against  Castlebar,  and  isde- 
feated,  144;  aids  in  saving  lives  of 
Protestants,  156;  with  Barrett.attacks 
the  British  at  Scarmore,  165 ;  is  cap- 
tured at  Killala,  tried  for  treason, 
but  escapes  death,  171. 

Ormond,  Earl  of,  his  bravery  at  Castle- 
bar, 92-3. 

Order  of  United  Irishmen,  see  United 
Irishmen. 

Paine,  Thomas,  writes  to  French  Di- 
rectory regarding  Irish  patriots  in 
French  army,  142,  185-6,  appendix. 

Ponson,  Captain,  a  French  officer,  de- 
scribed, 151-2  ;  single-handed  quells 
a  crowd  of  ruffians,  162. 

Proclamation  of  Liberty  to  Ireland, 
53-4- 

Religious  difficulties  of  the  French  in 
Ireland,  55-9  ;  Humbert's  effective 
little  speech  at  Killala,  57  ;  bad  mo- 
tives of  the  parish  priests,  58-9  ; 
peculiar  position  of  the  French,  59- 
60  ;  fickleness  of  recruits,  65  ;  efforts 
to  conciliate.  69-71. 

Revolution,  American,  effects  of,  in 
Europe,  15. 

Sarrazin,  General,  sketch  of,  44-5  ; 
skirmish  with  and  flight  of  British 
at  Ballina,  55  ;  leads  the  attack  near 
Ballina,  65  ;  honors  an  Irish  martyr, 
60  ;  at  Castlebar,  87-8,  91  ;  deserts 
Humbert  at  Ballinamuck,  132-3. 

Scarmore,  battle  at,  and  defeat  of 
rebels  by  Lord  Portarlington,  164. 

Secret  societies  in  Ireland,  18-19. 

Shortall,  English  artillery  captain, 
does  efficient  service  at  Castlebar, 
88  ;  makes  good  use  of  his  fists,  91. 

Sligo,  panic  of  inhabitants  in,  125-6. 

Stock,  Reverend  Joseph,  Bishop  of 
Killala,  describes  Humbert.  42  ;  testi- 
mony to  the  many  excellent  qualities 
of  the  French  soldiery,  90,  note  ; 
saves  life  of  an  Irish  patriot,  171  ; 
receives  letter  from  Humbert,  187, 
appendix. 

Superstitions  of  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants, 70-I,  77,  112. 

Teeling,  Bartholomew,  Irish  patriot 
in  French  army,  sketch  of,  46-7  ;  ad- 
venture at  Castlebar,  100-3  ">  saves 
Humbert's  life  at  Ballinamuck. 134-5; 
taken  as  a  rebel  by  Lake,  140  ;  is  ac- 
companied to  prison  by   Hwmbert, 


192 


INDEX. 


who  tries  to  save  him,  140  ;  tried  by 
court-martial  at  Dublin,  141  ;  partic- 
ulars of  his  execution.  142. 

Tone,  Matthew.  Irish  patriot  in 
French  army,  taken  at  Ballinamuck. 
tried  and  executed,  141-2. 

Tone,  Theobald  Wolfe.  Irish  patriot, 
also   falls  a  victim  to  the    English, 

Trench,  general  in  English  army,  161 ; 
emissaries  sent  to  him  entreat- 
ing fair  treatment  of  prisoners,  161 ; 
assures  fair  treatment  of  prisoners, 
163  :  arrives  at  Castlebar  and  plans 
future  movements,  164  ;  marches  to 
Crossmalina.  165  ;  skirmish  with  the 
rebels,  166 ;  joins  Lord  Portarling- 
ton  at  Ballina,  166;  his  battle  with 
rebels  at  Killala,  167-9. 

True,  French  officer,  described,  152  ; 
allows  insurgents  to  persecute  Prot- 
estants, is6. 


Urquhart,  Captain,  English  com- 
mander at  Castlebar,  posts  his  forces 
advantageously  for  the  defence  of 
the  town  on  second  attack,  147. 

United  Irishmen,  Order  of,  18  ;  its  alli- 
ance with  the  French  Directory,  19  ; 
its  disappointments,  21-23  ;  thwarts 
English  diplomacy,  24  ;  is  crushed 
out  by  the  English  military,  25. 

Vereker,  Colonel  Charles,  English 
commandant  at  Sligo,  has  a  battle 
with  Humbert,  at  Colooney,  124  ; 
wins  the  admiration  of  Humbert,  125. 

Walsh,  a  revolutionist  hanged  by  the 
British,  67;  his  corpse  kissed  by  Sar- 
razin,  69  ;  incongruous  scenes  at  his 
funeral,  70. 

"  War  of  plunder  and  massacre,"  on 
the  part  of  England,  so  described  by 
Cornwallis,  63. 


N..\v\ll   il 


mmS0^iJ//c6 


IN  IS 


0035525134 


~//y3s~9y 


li»m 


§M§ 


